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3 ARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

JKlin K. Lane, Secretary 



tates Geological Survey 
George Otis Smith, Director 



Water-supply Paper 422 



GROUND WATER IN THE ANIMAS, PLAYAS 

HACHITA, AND SAN LUIS BASINS 

NEW MEXICO 



BY 



A. T. SOHWENNESEN 



WITH ANALYSES OF WATER AND SOIL 



R. F. HARE 



Prep«r«4 In cooperatlo th 

THE NEW MEXICO AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION 




N \ - H ! NGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OYYICJV 





Book ._J\ ..i_S^. 






DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Franklin K. Lane, Secretary 



United States Geological Survey 

George Otis Smith, Director 





Water-Supply Paper 422 



GROUND WATER IN THE ANIMAS, PLAYAS 

HACHITA, AND SAN LUIS BASINS 

NEW MEXICO 



BY 



A. T. SCHWENNESEN 



WITH ANALYSES OF WATER AND SOIL 



R. F. HARE 



Prepared in cooperation with 
THE NEW MEXICO AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1918 



&' 



& > 



ADDITIONAL COPIES 

OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED FROH 

THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 

AT 

20 CENTS PER COPY 



0. 
MAR 



Of ». 

15 1919 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Introduction 9 

Purpose of investigation 9 

Geographic sketch. 11 

Historical sketch...... 14 

Industries and population 15 

Agricultural possibilities 17 

Physiography and drainage 20 

Mountains 20 

General features 20 

Western chain 20 

Central chain 22 

General features 22 

San Luis and Animas ranges 22 

Pyramid Range 23 

Eastern chain 23 

General features 23 

Dog Mountains 23 

Hatchet Range -. 24 

Hachita Range 24 

Coyote and Quartzite hills 24 

Apache (Doyle) Hills ,. 24 

Little Burro Mountains 25 

Valleys or plains .':... 25 

General features . :,..-. 25 

Alkali flats or playas. 26 

Ancient shore features 26 

Erosion features 27 

Sand dunes 27 

Lava beds 27 

Geology 28 

Pre-Quaternary rocks 28 

Quaternary deposits 30 

Origin and distribution 30 

Stream deposits 31 

Origin 31 

Character 31 

Correlation 32 

Thickness 33 

Lake deposits 34 

Stratified lake beds 34 

Beach deposits 34 

Wind deposits 35 

Lava beds 35 

3 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Climate 36 

Precipitation 36 

Records 36 

Fluctuations from year to year .• 38 

Seasonal distribution 38 

Regional distribution 40 

Temperature 40 

Soil 43 

General characteristics 43 

Alkali 44 

Formation and accumulation 44 

Kinds of alkali 44 

Distribution of alkali 45 

Prevention of accumulation of alkali 47 

Treatment of alkali soils 49 

Vegetation 50 

General features 50 

Mountain areas 50 

Valleys and plains 51 

Barren zone 51 

Zone of alkali vegetation 52 

Mesquite zone 52 

Zone of upland grass and brush 52 

Ground water 53 

Occurrence 53 

Source 53 

Head and artesian prospects 54 

Water table 55 

Shallow-water areas 56 

Quantity of water 57 

Quality of water 58 

Importance of quality 58 

Substances dissolved in water 58 

Classification of waters with respect to total dissolved solids and chem- 
ical type 59 

Distribution of waters according to total mineral content and type 59 

Distribution of calcium and magnesium 60 

Distribution of sodium and potassium 61 

Distribution of carbonate and bicarbonate 62 

Distribution of sulphate 62 

Distribution of chloride 62 

Relation of quality to derivative rocks 63 

Quality for irrigation 64 

Quality for domestic use 66 

Quality for boiler use 67 

Distribution according to quality 69 

Descriptions by areas 69 

Lordsburg Valley 69 

Physiography and drainage. 69 

Water table 70 

Water-bearing beds 71 

Quality of water 71 

Soil in relation to water supplies 72 

Pumping plants and yields of wells 73 



CONTENTS. 5 

Descriptions by areas — Continued. Page. 

Upper Animas Valley 75 

Physiography and drainage 75 

Occurrence of ground water 78 

Irrigation developments 80 

Artesian prospects 81 

Quality of water 81 

Soil in relation to water supplies 82 

Lower Animas Valley 83 

Physiography and drainage 83 

General features 83 

Alkali flats. 84 

Sand dunes 85 

Lava beds (malpais) 85 

Shore features of ancient Lake Animas 86 

Ground water - 89 

Depth to water 89 

Form of the water table 89 

Water-bearing beds 91 

Quality of water 94 

Amounts of dissolved solids 94 

Quality for irrigation 96 

Quality for domestic use 96 

Quality for boiler use 97 

Soil in relation to water supplies. '. 97 

Pumping plants and irrigation 98 

San Luis Valley 100 

Location and drainage 100 

Ancient Lake Cloverdale. 100 

Ground water 104 

Occurrence and quantity 104 

Quality of water . 105 

Soil in relation to water supplies 106 

Playas Valley 106 

Location 106 

Drainage of Upper Playas Valley 106 

Drainage of Lower Playas Valley • 107 

Playas Lake 107 

Present "lake" 107 

Ancient lake 108 

Ground water 109 

Water-bearing beds 109 

Form of the water table 110 

Principal shallow-water area 112 

Shallow-water area at Pot Hook 112 

Springs 113 

Artesian water 114 

Wells at Ojo de las Cienegas 114 

Prospects 115 

Quality of water 115 

Upper Playas Valley 115 

Lower Playas Valley 116 



CONTENTS. 



Descriptions by areas — Continued. 
Playas Valley — Continued. 

Ground water — Continued. p age . 

Soil in relation to water supplies 117 

Upper Playas Valley 117 

Lower Playas Valley 117 

Irrigation 119 

Hachita Valley 119 

Physiography and drainage 119 

Ground water 120 

Occurrence and quantity 120 

Depth to water 121 

Position of the water table . . . 121 

Artesian conditions 122 

Quality of water 124 

Soil in relation to water supplies 124 

Irrigation 125 

Methods of water analysis, by R. F. Hare 1 25 

Tables 127 

Index 151 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Plate I. Map of southern Grant County, N. Mex., showing geology of valley 

areas and distribution of alkali In pocket. 

II. Map of southern Grant County, N. Mex., showing locations of wells 

and springs, depth to water table, and character of vegetation . . In pocket. 

III. A, Lower Playas Valley, showing Playas Lake; B, Typical vegeta- 

tion of sand-dune area in Lower Animas Valley, 26 

IV. A, Beach deposits in Lower Animas Valley, showing horizontal bed- 

ding; 5, Central plain of Upper Playas Valley in vicinity of Ojo de 

las Cienegas 27 

V. Sections of wells in Lordsburg Valley 72 

VI. A, Erosion of stream-built slopes in Upper Animas Valley; B, Lower 

Animas Valley, showing north alkali flat 76 

VII. A, Quaternary lava (malpais) resting on valley fill, showing de- 
tached masses separated from main mass by building up of alluvial 
plain; B, Beach ridge on west side of Lower Animas Valley, show- 
ing drainage gap 86 

VIII. Sections of wells in Playas Valley 110 

IX. A, Artesian wells discharging into earth storage reservoir, Ojo de las 

Cienegas; B, Bluff bordering Animas Creek trough 114 

Figure 1. Index map of New Mexico showing areas covered by this report 
and by other reports of the United States Geological Survey 
dealing with ground water 12 

2. Diagram showing annual precipitation at Lordsburg 38 

3. Diagram showing actual and average monthly precipitation in 

southern Grant County, 1910-1914 39 



CONTENTS. 7 

Page. 
Figure 4. Diagram showing daily precipitation in southern Grant County 

in 1914 40 

5. Diagram showing maximum, minimum, and mean monthly tem- 

peratures at Lordsburg, 1910-1914 42 

6. Section across Animas Creek trough showing typical ground- water 

conditions 78 

7. Sections of wells in Upper Animas Valley 79 

8. Profile of beach ridge of ancient Lake Animas 8G 

9. Section showing relation of water table to surface of ground in 

Lower Animas Valley 90 

10. Section showing relative positions of water table in UpperAnimas 

and Lower Animas valleys 91 

11. Section showing characteristic lenticular shape of beds of valley 

fill on east side of Lower Animas Valley 92 

12. Sections of wells in Lower Animas Valley 93 

13. Diagram showing relation of water table to total solids dissolved in 

ground waters of Lower Animas Valley 95 

14. Profiles of beach ridge of ancient Lake Cloverdale in San Luis 

Valley 102 

15. Hypothetical section showing conditions producing shallow water at 

Pot Hook 113 

16. Section showing position of water table and typical conditions 

causing springs at outcrop of water-bearing beds on west side of 
Playas Lake depression 114 

17. Hypothetical section showing subterranean rock barrier across 

Hatchet Gap separating ground-water bodies of Hachita and 
Playas valleys 122 



GROUND WATER IN THE ANIMAS, PLAYAS, HACHITA, 
AND SAN LUIS BASINS, NEW MEXICO. 



By A. T. Schwennesen. 



INTRODUCTION. 
PURPOSE OF INVESTIGATION. 

Every traveler on either of the southern transcontinental railroads 
is doubtless impressed as he speeds across southern Arizona and New 
Mexico by the vastness of the upland plains. If he passes through 
this region during or soon after the short rainy season of summer or 
early fall, when the range grasses are at their best, he may wonder 
at the scarcity of farms in a region that is apparently so inviting to 
agriculture. The luxuriance of the forage grasses seems to belie the 
reputed aridity of the climate. 

In this region nature has for centuries been at work evolving certain 
types of drought-resisting and quick-growing plants suited to the 
climate. Perhaps the most valuable of the native forage plants are 
the so-called " grama grasses," some varieties of which mature in six 
weeks from the time the seed is sprouted. These desert grasses have 
made the region a great and valuable cattle range, but to the extent 
that it remains a cattle range it yields only a very small income to the 
acre. Only as the soil can be made productive when cultivated can 
the region provide permanent homes for a considerable population. 
The dry farmer and the irrigation farmer are working hand in hand, 
the one to perfect valuable drought-resistant and quick-maturing 
crops and to develop methods of farming by which the natural mois- 
ture in the ground may be conserved and used to the best advantage, 
the other to make up the deficiency in precipitation by utilizing sur- 
face and ground waters for irrigation. 

During the last decade popular attention has been focused on the 
great irrigation works undertaken by the United States Keclamation 
Service, whereby surface waters that formerly ran to waste are stored 
and used in agriculture. The Salt Kiver project in Arizona and the 
Rio Grande project in New Mexico are the greatest undertakings of 
this kind that have been completed in this region, both in respect to 
the amount of land irrigated and the magnitude of the engineering 
problems involved. The Yuma, Carlsbad, and Hondo are other large 

9 



10 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

projects undertaken by the United States Reclamation Service in 
these States. These projects, which involve expenditures of millions 
of dollars and require years for their execution, could not for a long 
time have been financed by private capital. By providing water for 
irrigation for hundreds of thousands of acres of desert land they make 
possible thousands of new homes. However, after developments of 
this kind have been carried to their utmost limits there will still 
remain immense areas of unreclaimed arable land. Other means 
will be found for making parts of these remaining areas productive, 
one of the most promising of which is irrigation with water pumped 
from wells. 

Water is found at many places in the alluvium of the valleys and 
plains of the Southwest. Even the most forbidding and barren desert 
wastes may be underlain by water-bearing deposits. The perfection 
of internal-combustion engines and centrifugal pumps within recent 
years insures the success of irrigation with ground water in many 
districts. These districts are, however, limited by certain physical 
conditions, such as the quantity and quality of the water and the 
depth to the water table. At present it does not generally pay to 
pump water for ordinary field crops from a greater depth than 50 feet, 
but the cost of pumping is constantly being reduced as pumping ma- 
chinery is improved, so that irrigation with ground water is now 
practicable in areas that a few years ago were beyond the limits of 
economical service. 

The development of supplies of ground water for irrigation is 
largely a matter for individual enterprise. Each landowner may 
own his irrigation system independent of his neighbors. The units 
may be as large or as small as is desired and still each may be com- 
plete in itself. This feature makes it possible to reclaim with ground 
water many small isolated areas in which irrigation with surface 
water is not practicable. 

The use of ground water in the vicinity of Deming, in the Mimbres 
Valley, N. Mex., 1 is being watched with great interest by irrigationists 
of the Southwest, and the success so far attained there has undoubt- 
edly given impetus to similar use in other parts of the State. The 
lessons learned there in regard to the mechanics of pumping and 
methods of agriculture will go far toward determining the practicabil- 
ity of using ground water for irrigation in the less developed areas 

Southern Grant County contains large tracts of potentially fertile 
soil that have hitherto been utilized only for grazing. It has no 
available supply of surface water for irrigation, and its rainfall is too 
meager and irregular to warrant the expectation that settlers there 
can make a livelihood exclusively by dry farming. In several areas, 

i Darton, N. H. f Underground water of Luna County, N. Mex.: U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply 
Paper 345, pp. 25-40, 1914. 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

however, there is shallow ground water that could be recovered by 
pumping. 

Recognizing the great need for more definite information in regard 
to the quantity and quality of this ground water, its depth beneath 
the surface, and its economic availability for irrigation, a ground- 
water survey of southern Grant County was undertaken in August, 
1913, by the United States Geological Survey in cooperation with the 
New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station. The field survey was 
made by A. T. Schwennesen, under the direction of O. E. Meinzer, 
both of the Geological Survey. George E. Martin, who was employed 
as driver and general assistant in the field, rendered efficient service. 
The chemical analyses of the water and of the water-soluble constitu- 
ents of the soil were made in the laboratory of the experiment station 
under the direction of R. F. Hare. The report was prepared chiefly 
by Mr. Schwennesen, but Dr. Hare contributed the part of the text 
describing the methods used in making the analyses of soil and water. 

GEOGRAPHIC SKETCH. 

The area considered in this paper is in the southwest corner of 
New Mexico and comprises about 3,600 square miles. It includes 
four closed drainage basins — the Animas, Playas, Hachita, and San 
Luis — in so far as they lie within the United States. It occupies 
nearly all of Grant County between the Mexican boundary and 
latitude 32° 30' north except that part which is in the San Simon 
Valley. 1 (See fig. 1.) 

The major features of the area are three nearly parallel, north- 
ward-trending mountain chains and intervening plains or valleys. 
The bounding ranges are not continuous, and at some places it is 
possible to travel from one valley to another without crossing the 
ranges, although many low and easily accessible passes usually pro- 
vide the most direct routes. Where the mountain ranges are ab- 
sent the valleys merge into one another, the drainage divides being 
very low and inconspicuous, so that these valleys form in reality 
one great plain. Owing to this merging of the valleys much confu- 
sion has arisen as to their names. The terms used by the earliest 
explorers were broad and indefinite, but as the country is becoming 
better known more specific names are required. 

The western mountain chain consists of the Guadalupe and Pelon- 
cillo ranges; the central chain consists of the San Luis, Animas, and 
Pyramid ranges; and the eastern chain comprises the Dog Moun- 
tains, the Hatchet and Hachita ranges, and the Coyote and Quartz- 
ite hills. Still farther cast are several detached groups of hills or 

iU. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 425, pp. 1-35, 1917 (Water-Supply Taper 425-A). 



12 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

mountains, the largest of which are the Apache or Doyle Hills and 
the Little Burro Mountains. 

The region between the Peloncillo Eange and the Animas and Pyr- 
amid ranges, extending from a low divide 9 miles north of the 




Figure 1. — Index map of New Mexico showing areas covered by this report and by other reports of the 
United States Geological Survey dealing with ground water. A, Water-Supply Paper 123; B, Water- 
Supply Paper 141; C, Water-Supply Paper 158; D, Water-Supply Paper 188; E, Water-Supply Paper 
275; F, Bulletin 435; G, Water-Supply Paper 345-C and Bulletin 618; H, Water-Supply Paper 343; 
/, Water-Supply Paper 422 (the present paper); J, Water-Supply Paper 380; K, Water-Supply Paper 
425-A. 

Mexican border to the Gila River divide, is known as Animas Valley. 
The plain between the Animas Valley and the Mexican boundary 
is known as San Luis Valley. The part of Animas Valley south of 
the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad is called Upper Animas Val- 
ley, to distinguish it from Lower Animas Valley, which lies north 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

of the railroad. There is a marked difference in topography be- 
tween the upper and lower valleys. Upper Animas Valley, from 
the head of Animas Creek to a point within 4 miles of Animas station, 
is well drained through a definite axial streamway that leads north- 
ward and discharges into the lower valley. Lower Animas Val- 
ley, on the other hand, has a broad and nearly level floor and no 
definite drainage lines. The flood waters discharged from the 
upper valley and from the gullies that head in the mountains on both 
sides spread in thin sheets over the valley floor or find their way 
through broad, shallow draws to the alkali flat that occupies the 
center of the lower valley. 

At the time of the Wheeler survey, in the early seventies, all the 
plains country north of the Arizona & New Mexico Railway was 
called the Gila Plains, and the country farther south was known as 
the Valle de las Playas, meaning valley of the strands, because in 
different parts of the area there are alkali flats that become lakes in 
the rainy season. The name Valle de las Playas, or Playas Valley, 
has been retained but is now applied only to the valley which is 
bounded on the west by the San Luis and Animas ranges and on the 
east by the Hatchet and Hachita ranges and which extends from 
the Quartzite Hills and the south end of the Pyramid Range to the 
Mexican border. 

Playas Valley is separated into an upper and a lower part by a 
low divide that extends diagonally across the valley from the base 
of the hills east of Mount Gillespie to Hatchet Gap. Lower Playas 
Valley lies in a small closed basin whose flood waters drain into 
Playas Lake, a barren alkali flat that occupies a depression in 
the center of the valley. Upper Playas Valley drains northward 
and eastward through Hatchet Gap. 

To the region which is bounded on the west by the Hatchet and 
Hachita ranges and on the east by the Apache Hills and the group 
of hills north of the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad and which 
extends from Black Mountain to the Mexican boundary the name 
Hachita Valley is sometimes applied. A narrow but definite ' ' draw," 
or dry streamway, extends along the axis of the valley from Black 
Mountain to the vicinity of Hatchet Gap and thence southwestward 
to the international boundary. At Hatchet Gap this draw receives 
the flood waters from Upper Playas Valley. 

The plain lying north of Black Mountain and bounded on the 
northeast by the Little Burro Mountains and on the southwest by 
the Coyote Hills, Quartzite Hills, and Pyramid Range may for 
convenience be called Lordsburg Valley. The primary drainage line 
in this valley leads northwestward, parallel to the Arizona & New 
Mexico Railway, from Black Mountain to Lordsburg, and thence 



14 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

westward around the upper end of the Pyramid Range into the 
alkali flat, or "dry lake," of Lower Animas Valley. 

Upper Animas, Lower Animas, and Lordsburg valleys therefore 
lie in the Animas drainage basin, San Luis Valley is in the San Luis 
drainage basin, Lower Playas Valley is in the Playas drainage basin, 
and Upper Playas and Hachita valleys are in the Hachita drainage 
basin. 

HISTORICAL SKETCH. 

From the time of Coronado's memorable expedition in 1540- 
1542 up to the time of the Mexican war of independence, in 1811- 
1821, the Spaniards made numerous expeditions from Mexico into 
the region that now comprises Arizona and New Mexico. Most of 
these expeditions gained entrance to the country west of the Sierra 
Madre through the Santa Cruz Valley and to the country east of these 
mountains through the Rio Grande valley. 

Southern Grant County contained none of that ancient civilization 
for which the early explorers were always in search, and it therefore 
offered almost no attraction either to the adventurer in search of 
treasure or to the friars in search of new fields for missionary work. 
It is recorded that the Santa Rita mines were worked by the Spaniards 
in the eighteenth century, but otherwise Grant County does not 
figure in the early history. 

Before the American occupation, in 1846, this territory was under 
Spanish and Mexican rule. By the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in 
1848, the international boundary west of the Rio Grande was fixed at 
31° 54' 40" north latitude as far west as meridian 109° 37' west 
longitude, and thence on that meridian north to the Rio Santo Do- 
mingo (San Simon Creek). 1 This left the southern part of the area 
described in this report still under Mexican rule. In 1853, through 
the Gadsden purchase, the boundary line was fixed in its present 
position. In 1868 Grant County was organized out of territory taken 
from Dona Ana County. In 1901 a part of the territory belonging 
to Grant County was taken to form part of Luna County, and the 
present boundaries of Grant County were established. 

The first authentic account of any journey through this region is 
contained in the report of Lieut. Col. P, St. George Cooke, 2 who with 
the " Mormon battalion" started from Santa Fe in October, 1846, 
to find an easy and direct wagon route from the Rio Grande to the 
Pacific. By taking a more southerly course he expected to escape 
many of the difficulties experienced by Gen. Kearney, who followed 
the Gila route earlier in the year. In this expectation he was not 
disappointed, for, aside from inconveniences due to occasional scarcity 

i Bancroft, IT. IT., History of Arizona and New Mexico, vol. 17, pp. 471-472, San Francisco, 1889. 
2 Notes of a military reconnaissance from Fort Leavenworth in Missouri to San Diego in California: 30th 
Cong., 1st sess., H. Doc. 41, pp. 553-555. 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

of water, his party suffered no unusual hardships, and on the whole 
he seems to have been well satisfied with the results of his journey. 
As nearly as can be determined from his map and description, his 
course led to Ojo de Vaca (Cow Spring), in the northwestern corner 
of Luna County, and thence across the plain north of Hachita, through 
one of the passes near the north end of the Hachita Range, across 
Playas Lake in the vicinity of the Whitmire ranch, through Whit- 
mire Pass into Animas Valley, up Animas Valley to the present 
Mexican boundary, and thence across the Guadalupe Range, near 
the southwestern corner of the State. The party had some difficulty 
in crossing this range with their wagons and they spent several days 
in constructing a road. The lower passes to the north, discovered 
several years later by Lieut. Parke, were not known to Cooke at 
this time, for in speaking of the southern pass he says: 

This is called the Pass of Guadalupe, and this is the only one for many hundreds 
of miles to the south by which the broken descent from the great table-land of Mexico 
can be made by wagons, and rarely by pack mules. I hold it to be a question whether 
the same difficult formation does not extend north, at least to the Gila. If it is so, 
my road is probably the nearest and best route. But if the prairie to the north is 
open to the San Pedro and water can be found, that improvement will make my road 
not only a good but a direct one from the Rio Grande to the Pacific. 

In 1853 the War Department detailed Lieut. John G. Parke to 
make explorations and surveys for a railroad from the Mississippi 
to the Pacific Ocean. This expedition explored the route now 
followed by the Southern Pacific Railroad, namely, from Steins 
Pass northeastward across the Lower Animas Valley, around the 
north end of the Pyramid Range, and thence southeastward along 
the base of the broad slope of the Little Burro Mountains. 1 

In 1873 G. K. Gilbert, in connection with the Wheeler survey, 2 
made observations on the geology in the region previously recon- 
noitered by Lieut. Parke's party. His notes deal particularly with 
the geology of the Peloncillo Range north of Gabilan Peak, the 
Virginia (Ralston) mining district at the northeast end of the Pyramid 
Range, and parts of the Little Burro Mountains. Oscar Loew, 3 
connected with the expedition in the capacity of mineralogic assist- 
ant, made observations on the soil, vegetation, and water supply of 
the region with a view to ascertaining its agricultural possibilities. 

INDUSTRIES AND POPULATION. 

Two transcontinental railroad lines — the Southern Pacific and the 
El Paso & Southwestern — cross the area, and a branch lino— the 
Arizona <fc New Mexico — extends northwestward through the area 

1 Explorations and surveys for a railroad from Mississippi River to tho Pacific Ocean, made under the 
direction of tho Secretary of War, 1X53-1856, vol. 7, 1857. 

2 U. S. Geog. and Geol. Surveys W. 100th Mer. Ropt., vol. 3, pp. 513-515, 1875, 
a Idem, pp. 578-579. 



16 GKOUISTD WATEK IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

and connects the two main lines with the Clifton and Morenci mining 
districts, in eastern Arizona. 

In 1910, according to the United States census, Grant County had 
14,813 inhabitants. As nearly as can be determined, hardly more 
than one-fifth of these — about 3,000 — lived in the area considered 
in this report. Most of the inhabitants of this area are whites, the 
Mexicans being found only in the towns and at the small stations 
along the railroads, where they are employed mainly as section hands. 
The farmers and stockmen are practically all white and are chiefly 
native Americans, the foreign-born whites being confined almost 
exclusively to the towns and mining districts. 

Lordsburg, the largest town, is- in the north-central part of the 
area, at the junction of the Southern Pacific and Arizona & New 
Mexico railroads. It is supported largely by the silver and copper 
mines of the Virginia and Pyramid mining districts, which are a few 
miles south, in the Pyramid Range, and by business incident to rail- 
road maintenance, but it is also a supply and shipping point for the 
cattle ranches of an extensive range country and for the farms in 
Lower Animas Valley. Its population in 1910 was 1,323. 

Hachita, the second town in population, is in the upper part of 
Haohita Valley, at the point where the Arizona & New Mexico Rail- 
way connects with the main line of the El Paso & Southwestern Co. 
The town is supported almost entirely by trade from the cattle 
ranches and farms of Hachita, Playas, and Upper Animas valleys to 
the south and west, but during the last few years it has also been the 
supply point for a number of army camps along the Mexican border. 
The population in 1910 was 628. 

Smaller settlements, having post offices and stores, are Separ and 
Steins, on the Southern Pacific Railroad, and Animas and Playas 
on the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad. 

The chief industries of southern Grant County are mining, stock 
raising, and agriculture. Most of the mining activity is near Lords- 
burg, in the northern part of the Pyramid Range. Prospecting was 
begun here in 1870, and active mining was started in the early eighties, 
about the time the Southern Pacific Railroad was being built. Mines 
have also been worked from time to time, with varying degrees of 
success, at Gold Hill, in the Little Burro Mountains, at Sylvanite 
and Old Haohita, in the Haohita Range, at Steins Pass and Granite 
Gap, in the Pelonoillo Range, at Gillespie, in the Animas Range, 
and at several points in the Apache Hills. 1 

Stock raising is at present the leading industry and will without 
doubt continue to be important. In the last few years the public 
lands in the valleys, upon the rich grama grasses of which the cattle- 

i Lindgren, Waldemar, Graton, L. C, and Gordon, C. H., The ore deposits of New Mexico: U. S. Geol. 
Survey Prof. Paper 68, pp. 295-348, 1910. 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

men depended for their summer range, have to a great extent been 
occupied and fenced by settlers. This change has been a severe 
blow to the large cattle companies and will probably result in a 
reconstruction of the stock-raising industry. 

Agriculture in southern Grant County is still very much in the 
experimental stage. The conditions that must be met are severe. 
If the new settlers succeed it will probably be by combining stock 
raising on a small scale with dry farming and ground-water irriga- 
tion. They should have small herds of cattle to which unmarketa- 
ble farm products may be fed, and which may range on the large 
upland areas of nonagricultural land that provide excellent pastur- 
age during certain seasons of the year. In regions remote from 
markets and where transportation rates are high, stock raising in 
connection with farming is especially desirable. 

AGRICULTURAL POSSIBILITIES. 

The following greatly abbreviated quotation from an article by 
R. H. Forbes, relating to the possibilities of agriculture in Sulphur 
Spring Valley, Ariz., previously published by the United States 
Geological Survey, 1 is given here because it is believed to apply in 
general to the conditions in southern Grant County and to contain 
advice that will be helpful to the settlers in that county: . 

WATER SUPPLIES. 

With reference to its use in agriculture, the water supply may be divided into direct 
rainfall, flood-water run-off, and ground water-. The rainfall is sometimes adequate 
for the production of crops by ordinary methods of farming and at other times entirely 
inadequate. In average years, however, the summer rains, from July 1 to October 1, 
are adequate for the production of certain crops. The winter rainfall is much less 
valuable, but by suitable methods of conservation may be made to contribute to the 
raising of crops. 

The flood water from heavy rains in the mountains is often of great benefit to the 
subjacent country. By means of ditches this flood water may be intercepted and 
carried onto cultivated land for future use in growing crops. This form of water sup- 
ply, however, like rainfall, is intermittent and uncertain and must be supplemented by 
some more certain supply in order to be made useful. 

The ground waters, where within economical reach of pumping, constitute a sup- 
plementary supply of great future value. 

Several more or less successful methods of farming have been adopted. Among these 
are so-called dry farming, flood- water farming, farming by irrigation with pumped water, 
combinations of dry farming and flood-water farming, dry farming and supplementary 
irrigation with pumped water, and farming with the ranging of cattle where the land 
is yet unoccupied. 

Dry farming. — Dry farming is uncertain because of the varying rainfall from year to 
year and because of the possible bad distribution of a rainfall which, if timely, would 
be adequate for the production of crops. Dry farming consists essentially in tlu> stor- 

1 Meinzcr, O. E., Kclton, F. C, and Forbes, R. II., Geology and water resources of Sulphur Spring 
Valley, Ariz., with a section on agriculturo: U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 320, pp. 216-223, 1913. 

16939°— 18— wsp 422 2 



18 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

age of moisture in the soil and its subsequent utilization by crops. The irregularity 
of the rainfall may easily interfere with a carefully planned program of operations, 
and the winds, the exceedingly dry air, and the heat of summer all produce excessive 
evaporation of moisture and necessitate unusual vigilance and care in maintaining 
the soil mulch to conserve the rainfall, even temporarily. Good equipment and effi- 
cient organization are consequently necessary for carrying on farming punctually and 
in the proper way. In spite of these difficulties, however, part crops of corn, sorghum, 
milo maize, and beans were grown on the dry farm of the Arizona experiment station 
southwest of McNeal during the somewhat unfavorable seasons of 1909 and 1910, on 
rainfall only, conserved by dry-farming methods of cultivation. Beans produced an 
encouraging crop, and considerable yields of corn and sorghum were also obtained. 

Ranchers have also produced promising crops of beans, sorghum, corn, broom corn, 
milo, and Kafir. These preliminary results indicate that dry farming alone has a 
distinct but limited utility in the region, which, however, can undoubtedly be greatly 
increased by the use of supplementary water. 

Flood-water farming . — Flood-water farming, which is immediately consequent upon 
rainfall, is practiced to some extent in the southwestern part of the United States 
and adjacent parts of Mexico. The Papago Indians, especially, are very skillful in 
diverting storm waters at advantageous points by crude ditches which lead the water 
upon subjacent tracts of level land. At the beginning of the summer rains these 
Indians make preparation for planting and cultivating their summer crops by break- 
ing the fallow ground left after harvesting the preceding crops. In the loose soil 
thus prepared the rainfall and the diverted storm waters are accumulated. In it corn, 
beans, melons, pumpkins, squashes, martynias, and sorghum mature rapidly under 
the influence of the warm summer season, the moisture in the soil, and usually the 
continued rains and floods of the summer. The Papago Indians are particularly suc- 
cessful in cultivating their own quick-growing, drought-resistant varieties of corn 
and beans and rarely fail to obtain satisfactory returns from their work. 

Winter crops of wheat and barley are usually less satisfactory, for the winter rains 
are less adequate and the winter run-off is less abundant than the storms and run-off 
of summer. In some winters, however, fairly satisfactory crops of wheat are matured 
by the Indians. 

Following the example of agricultural tribes of the Southwest, the Mexicans, and 
to some extent the Americans also, are utilizing storm-water run-off, supplemented 
in many places with additional irrigating supplies. By combining the use of flood 
waters with the thorough cultivation incident to methods of dry farming, considerable 
though not always certain returns are realized. 

In some places it is also possible to supplement rainfall and flood waters with stored 
water impounded behind low and inexpensive embankments thrown up at advan- 
tageous points across washes and swales leading from the mountains, from which most 
of the water supply comes. 

Supplementary irrigation with pumped water. — Unlike rain and flood waters, which 
are intermittent and uncertain, the ground waters, which may be economically 
reached under certain areas, are permanent and certainly obtainable and may be used 
to supplement the cheaper supplies, thus assuring crop returns to the farmer. 

Stored ground waters will, indeed, take the place of the reservoir waters available 
in certain other agricultural valleys. In some localities where water of desirable 
quality comes very near the surface it may be found possible to develop and use 
ground waters according to ordinary methods of irrigation. Where pumping from any 
depth is required, however, the cost of this form of water supply renders desirable the 
use of as little pumped water as possible. To be most effective, it should be applied 
only when the starting or saving of a crop renders its use especially advantageous or 
necessary. The summer growing season, for instance, beginning with the summer 
rains in July and ending with the early frosts, is in some years too short to mature 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

satisfactorily corn, sorghum, Kafir corn, and certain other forage and vegetable crops. 
These crops can be started well in advance of the summer rains by running pumped 
water down the planting furrows, then cultivating thoroughly to conserve moisture, 
and sowing seed in the moist soil. Crops thus planted will come on rapidly while the 
soil holds moisture and will then be carried along by the summer rains, which begin 
about the 1st of July. If the rains are timely and the soil is thoroughly cultivated 
after each rain, no further irrigation will be necessary, and fairly satisfactory crops can 
be had. 

In the winter growing season, also*, fall crops of wheat and barley may be started by 
similar supplemental irrigation and brought up in time to utilize winter rainfall and 
be well advanced toward maturity by April. The scant rainfall of the spring months, 
however, is usually insufficient to mature grain crops, and a second supplemental 
irrigation is necessary. The use of supplemental pumped water is much less prac- 
ticable with winter than with summer crops because of the greater amount of supple- 
mentary water required. 

The use of supplemental pumped water is, however, not limited to the exigencies 
of planting and maturing a crop. By maintaining surface tilth in the form of a deep 
mulch according to the methods used in dry-farming, pumped water, like rainfall or 
storm- water run-off, may for a season be stored and conserved in the soil. At the dry 
farm near McNeal, Ariz., water has been thus stored and utilized with conspicuous 
benefit to crops six months after pumping, thus making it practicable to utilize the 
output of small plants for the storage of soil water. To do this, the ground should be 
irrigated through furrows as rapidly as the pumping plant will supply the water. 
These furrows should then be cultivated level and the mulch maintained as in dry 
farming. Beginning, say, on the 1st of January, the farmer can thus store water in 
his fields for four months, until danger of late frosts is over, and can then plant his 
crops on accumulated soil moisture to be supplemented by summer rains, and the 
crop can usually be brought to completion without further help from the pumping 
plant. The experiments near McNeal have shown that about 4 inches deep of water, 
or about one-tenth the amount required under ordinary irrigation in southern Arizona, 
applied in this way, is sufficient to assure a crop. Moreover, the continuous use of a 
pumping plant through several months is more economical, considering investment, 
interest, and depreciation, than the temporary use of such a plant only at critical 
times in the growth of the crop. Used continuously in this manner a pumping plant 
may be made to carry the crops, not on a few acres only, but on as many acres as can 
be supplied by the plant with water a few inches deep during several months of the 
year. 

Stock raising in connection with farming. — The areas within which methods of dry 
farming, supplemented by the use of pumped water, are now possible are limited to 
those intermediate elevations where good soil is underlain by ground water within 
economical pumping distance. At higher elevations there are large areas of good 
land which is capable of supporting an abundant growth of native grasses but under 
which the water lies too deep for present economical pumping. It is not at all un- 
likely, therefore, that some of these lands that lie near areas where dry farming with 
supplemental pumped water can be undertaken with a fair certainty of success may 
be used for grazing cattle in connection with the dry farming on the neighboring 
lands. This cultivable area should be made to act as a balance wheel for the grazing 
areas. By means of rainfall, flood waters, and, when necessary, supplemental pumped 
water, crops of sorghum, Kafir corn, milo maize, and quick-growing varieties of 
Indian corn, and even alfalfa, may be grown and cured for use as forage in times of 
drought, when the open range fails. Such supplies of forage will serve to tide over 
range animals, especially during the dry months of April, May, and June, when feed 
is most likely to be scant and when, in some years, many cftttle have starved. The 
losses of cattle from starvation sometimes reaching 50 per cent or more, may in this 



20 

manner, to a considerable extent, be prevented. By such a plan not only is pro- 
ductiveness insured for the cultivated areas, but use is made of large additional 
grazing areas. 

It is not at all unlikely that the use of silos may become a feature of the agriculture 
of the region. During the winter and spring, when frosts and dry weather curtail the 
supply of green feed, a supply of fresh forage would be of great value to stock-growing 
industries. In French North Africa, in a semiarid region similar to southern Arizona, 
silos are successfully employed to preserve forage for use at times when green mate- 
rial is not available. With the aid of these silos dairying is carried on and cattle 
are fattened. 

In this connection it is interesting to note the manner in which the Papago stock- 
men of extreme southwestern Arizona adapt themselves to the arid conditions there. 
About July 1, at the beginning of the summer rainy season, when surface flood waters 
may be impounded in the valley bottom lands, these people, with their cattle, 
horses, and agricultural implements, move from the mountains to the valleys and 
remain there, grazing their cattle on summer grasses and planting quick-growing crops 
on soil soaked with flood waters and occasionally moistened with rain. In the fall 
as the rains fail and the supplies of water impounded for domestic use disappear, the 
Indians go back to their villages in the adjacent foothills, where their cattle range 
through the winter on the summer growth of wild hay and are watered from their 
owner's wells. In this way, by spending half the year in the mountains and half in 
the valleys, these Indians live well in a region where white men, with methods 
unadapted to it, have repeatedly failed to establish themselves. The peculiar merit 
of the Indian method is that it shifts the cattle from mountains to valleys and from 
valleys to mountains each year, so that at no time are the ranges seriously overgrazed, 
as are the fixed watering places and grazing grounds commonly maintained by 
American stockmen. 



PHYSIOGRAPHY AND DRAINAGE. 

MOUNTAINS. 
GENERAL FEATURES. 

About 1,100 square miles, or nearly one-third of southern Grant 
County, is occupied by mountains. Three narrow, sharply marked, 
parallel mountain chains cross it from north to south, a zone of 
minor relief extends along its eastern margin, and numerous isolated 
buttes are scattered through it. (See map, PI. I, in pocket.) 

WESTERN CHAIN. 

The Guadalupe and Peloncillo ranges form a mountain chain that 
extends uninterruptedly from the Mexican border to Gila River and 
forms a connecting link between the great mountain system of the 
central plateau of Mexico and that of the plateau of northern New 
Mexico and Arizona. 

From the Mexican boundary this chain extends due north for 20 
miles along the Arizona-New Mexico boundary; thence it swings east- 
ward into New Mexico and extends northward and northwestward 



PHYSIOGRAPHY AND DRAINAGE. 21 

for 45 miles to Steins Peak, where it crosses the State line. In 
Arizona the same chain continues northwestward to the canyon of 
Gila River and beyond into the complex mountain system of central 
Arizona. Along the Mexican border the chain is 12 miles wide. 
Toward the north it gradually narrows and in the vicinity of Granite 
Gap and Cowboy Pass it is less than a mile wide. Farther north it 
gradually becomes broader and in Arizona, south of Gila River, it 
is about 20 miles wide. 

Several sharp conical peaks, such as Steins Peak, near the State 
line, about 7 miles north of the Southern Pacific Railroad, Granite 
Peak, 8 miles south of the Southern Pacific Railroad, Peloncillo Peak, 
17 miles south of the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad, and Clover- 
dale Peak, 10 miles north of the international boundary, stand out 
prominently and form well-known land marks. 

The chain consists of several more or less distinct parts. South 
of Clover dale Creek it goes by the name Guadalupe Range, being 
considered part of the range of that name in Mexico. Between 
Cloverdale Creek and Antelope Gap, which is occupied by the El Paso 
& Southwestern Railroad, it is well developed and has no local 
name other than the Peloncillo Range; between this gap and Steins 
Pass, which is occupied by the Southern Pacific Railroad, the range 
is very narrow, scarcely 2 miles in average width. For a distance 
of 4 miles south from Granite Gap it is represented by a single 
sharp, low ridge less than three-fourths of a mile wide. Granite 
Gap and Cowboy Pass are both traversed by wagon roads and afford 
easy routes between Animas and San Simon valleys. The section 
between Antelope Gap and Steins Peak is locally called Steins Peak 
Range, but according to the best usage the name Peloncillo Range 
applies to all the chain north of the Guadalupe Range. 

The average elevation of the Peloncillo Range is about 5,500 feet 
above sea level — 1,500 feet above Animas Valley, on the east, and 
nearly 2,000 feet above San Simon Valley, on the west. Its west 
side is in most places much steeper than its east side. The general 
relief of the range is not great, but the steepness of the mountain 
slopes, which rise sheer from the plains, and the ruggedness of the 
bare rock masses, with their sharp outlines produced by erosion, 
give an exaggerated effect of loftiness, especially in its northern part 
where vegetation is very scanty. South of the El Paso & South- 
western Railroad the ruggedness is somewhat subdued by forests 
and foothills. Here the summits and higher slopes are covered with 
a fair growth of conifers, and the foothills and upper parts of the 
valley slopes support oaks and junipers. Most of that part of the 
range which lies south of Peloncillo Mountain is included in the 
Chiricahua National Forest. 



22 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

CENTRAL CHAIN. 

General features. — Fifteen miles east of the Peloncillo Range a 
prominent mountain chain extends from the Mexican border north- 
ward to the Southern Pacific Railroad. This chain is composed of two 
parts separated by a wide gap through which the El Paso & South- 
western Railroad passes. The southern part is in the form of a rough 
triangle that has its apex at the north and that expands gradually 
to a width of about 12 miles along the Mexican boundary. It com- 
prises the Animas Range, which lies north of the San Luis Pass, 
and the San Luis Range, which lies south of the pass, extends into 
Mexico, and connects with the Sierra Madre, a lofty and extensive 
mountain system lying between the States of Chihuahua and Sonora. 

The northern part, which lies between the two railroads and is 
characterized by a number of conical peaks resembling pyramids, is 
known as the Pyramid Range. It lies along the same structural 
axis as the southern ranges and at one time was probably connected 
with them by a low ridge, which is now partly buried by detrital 
accumulations, but the highest points of which still appear as low 
buttes and ridges in the gap. 

San Luis and Animas ranges. — The Animas Range culminates 
in a sharp crest which runs close to the east edge of the Animas 
Valley and extends from San Luis Pass northward to Animas Peak, 
where it reaches its greatest height at an elevation of about 8,800 
feet, thence northeastward to Mount Gillespie, and thence again 
northward, gradually diminishing in height. At San Luis Pass the 
crest is broken at an elevation of about 5,600 feet, but it is con- 
tinued southward in the San Luis Range, close to the bordering 
valley. 

Both the Animas and San Luis ranges present bold, nearly un- 
broken west fronts. South of Mount Gillespie the Animas Range 
descends gradually toward the east, forming a plateau 8 or 10 miles 
wide, but on the east side of this plateau there is a sudden descent 
of 500 or 600 feet into Playas Valley. North of Mount Gillespie 
the range narrows to a width of about 3 miles. 

Considerable timber grows on the crests and higher slopes of the 
San Luis and Animas ranges, especially in the region about Animas 
Mountain, and most of this timbered land has been included in the 
Chiricahua National Forest. E. A. Mearns x notes three forest 
zones on Animas Peak. At the summit is a zone of quaking aspen 
(Populus tremuloides) and Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii), lower a 
zone of Douglas spruce (Pseudotsuga mucronata) and Mexican white 
pine (Pinus strobiformis) , and still lower a zone of bull pine (Pinus 
ponderosa). Mearns fixes the timber line of the mountains at 5,250 

i Mearns, E. A., Mammals of the Mexican boundary of the United States: U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 56, pt. 
1, pp. 91-92, 1907. 



PHYSIOGRAPHY AND DRAINAGE. 23 

feet. Along the base, in the vicinity of springs and along the lower 
ends of the canyons, there are small groves of oaks and junipers. 

Pyramid Range. — The Pyramid Range occupies the center of a 
great plain north of the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad. Except 
for a very small area in the southeast, which drains into Lower 
Playas Valley, it lies wholly within the closed Animas drainage 
basin. It extends northward, is about 21 miles long, 8 miles in 
maximum width, and covers about 80 square miles. The highest 
points are Big Pyramid Mountain, in the north-central part of the 
range, about 5,900 feet above sea level, and Little Pyramid Mountain, 
in the south-central part, about 5,700 feet above sea level. The 
jumble of naked peaks and ridges with sharp jagged outlines and 
scant timber gives this range the uninviting appearance of the 
typical desert range. In the low hills at the north end of the range 
is the Lordsburg mining district, which, both in persistence and in 
total production, is the most important district in southern Grant 
County. 

EASTERN CHAIN. 

General features. — About 15 miles from the central chain, parallel 
to it in the south but slightly approaching it toward the north, 
is the easternmost of the three principal mountain chains. Like the 
other two it is an extension from a larger system south of the inter- 
national boundary. It consists of three groups lying along the same 
line and separated only by narrow gaps. The southern group, con- 
sisting of the Dog Mountains (Sierra del Perro in Mexico) and the 
Hatchet Range, extends from the Mexican boundary 25 miles north- 
ward to Hatchet Gap. The middle group, consisting of the Hachita 
Range, extends 16 miles northward from Hatchet Gap to the gap 
through which the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad passes. The 
northern and smallest group, consisting of the Coyote and Quartzite 
hills, lies north of the railroad and is about 9 miles long. 

The Hatchet Range and that part of the Dog Mountains in the 
United States occupy a triangular area, whose apex is at the north 
end of the Hatchet Range and whose base at the international 
boundary is about 15 miles wide. This area comprises approxi- 
mately 180 square miles. 

Dog Mountains. — The Dog Mountains were not visited in the 
course of this investigation, but Mearns * describes them as exceed- 
ingly rugged, particularly on the east side, where they are furrowed 
by jagged canyons with precipitous sides abounding in caves. The 
highest point of the range is Emory Peak, which has an elevation 
of 6,129 feet. The ridges making up the mountain aggregate trend 
in general northwestward. The range is sparsely wooded, checker- 

» Mearns, E. A., op. cit., pp. 87-88. 



24 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

bark juniper crowning the summits and oaks, sycamores, walnuts, 
and mulberries growing at lower elevations. 

Hatchet Range. — North of the Dog Mountains the topography 
presents a marked change. The more or less scattered ridges, 
which appear inconspicuous in the aggregate, give way to a single 
dominating ridge — the Hatchet Range. At the north end of this 
range, where the base is narrow, the mass rises over 4,000 feet above 
the plain in great vertical cliffs, some of which are at least 1,000 feet 
from base to top. This part of the Hatchet Range is by far the most 
striking and conspicuous feature in this whole region. Big Hatchet 
Mountain, the main peak, about 5 miles south of Hatchet Gap, rises 
about 8,400 feet above sea level. In the clear atmosphere it can be 
distinguished for remarkably long distances, and as a landmark 
even Animas Peak, although overtopping it by 400 feet, is far less 
conspicuous. 

Some timber is found in the Hatchet Mountains. A zone of 
pinon pine occupies the upper half of the slopes and a number of 
checkerboard junipers stand at the summit. At the base there are 
a few red junipers. 1 

Hachita Range. — The Hachita (Spanish; "little hatchet") Range 
extends from Hatchet Gap to the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad. 
Its length is about 15 miles and its maximum width a little over 5 
miles. It reaches its greatest height in twin peaks that stand a 
short distance south of the center of the area covered by the range. 
The northernmost and highest of these peaks, known as Hachita 
or Little Hatchet Peak, rises about 6,500 feet above sea level. The 
range is compact and rugged, and is characterized by sharp peaks 
and ridges and rocky, bare, precipitous slopes. 

Coyote and Quartzite Mils. — North of the Hachita Range, and 
separated from it by the gap traversed by the El Paso & South- 
western Railroad, are the Coyote and Quartzite hills. The Coyote 
Hills trend northwestward and are separated by a low pass from the 
Quartzite Hills, on the north, which trend eastward. The Coyote Hills 
are marked by a persistent ridge on the south and west that culminates 
in Coyote Peak and faces Playas Valley in a short, precipitous slope. 
The Quartzite Hills consist of a single ridge, about 5 miles long, which 
extends eastward along the fifth standard parallel south. Although 
probably not rising more than 500 feet above the plain, this ridge 
is rather conspicuous on account of numerous small juniper trees 
along its crest and flanks. 

APACHE (DOYLE) HILLS. 

Six miles east of the Hachita Range, on the east side of the Hachita 
Valley, are the Apache Hills, locally also known as the Doyle Hills. 

i Mearns, E. A., op. cit. 



PHYSIOGRAPHY AND DRAINAGE. 25 

They consist of a tangled group of bare rounded hills with a maximum 
relief of perhaps 1,000 feet. They extend eastward into Mexico, 
where they are known as the Sierra Rica. 

About 3 J nfiles north of the Apache Hills, on the north side of the 
El Paso & Southwestern Railroad, is a similar group of small bare 
hills. On the south they end in a flat-topped block with a straight 
vertical scarp facing the railroad. On the north they end in a west- 
ward-trending ridge eroded into numerous rounded and conical peaks. 
The maximum relief of this group of hills is probably not more than 
500 or 600 feet. 

LITTLE BURRO MOUNTAINS. 

In the northeastern part of the area is a compact little group of 
mountains known as the Little Burro Mountains. They are con- 
nected at the north with the Big Burro Mountains. Their maximum 
elevation is somewhat less than 7,000 feet above sea level and not 
more than 2,500 feet above the general level of the adjacent plain. 
A rather remarkable feature in connection with this range is the 
immense accumulation of rock waste that is piled against its south- 
western flank and that stretches in a broad, sweeping slope from a zone 
far up on the side of the range nearly to the Southern Pacific Rail- 
road. This accumulation seems to be greatly out of proportion to 
the mass and the elevation of the range. The range contains some 
timber and is included in the Gila National Forest. 

VALLEYS OR PLAINS. 
GENERAL FEATURES. 

About two-thirds of the surface of southern Grant County con- 
sists of intermontane plains or valleys which in general appear smooth 
and nearly level, though they include some very irregular tracts and, 
as they slope gently in the same direction for many miles, have dif- 
ferences in elevation of hundreds of feet. The surfaces of these plains 
or valleys have, for the most part, been constructed by the aggrada- 
tional work of the storm waters. They consist chiefly of stream- 
built slopes that extend from the mountain borders to the lowest 
depressions in the basins. The gradients of these slopes are regular 
and gentle and decrease gradually with increase of distance from the 
mountains, thus producing concave or somewhat saucer-shaped land 
forms. In the depressions — the bottoms of the saucers — the Hood 
waters that are not otherwise dissipated come to rest and produce 
nearly level surfaces, which, if well developed, form alkali Hats, or 
play as, such as the Animas and Play as basins. (See PI. I, in pocket.) 
The flats are in sharp contrast to the slopes and they cover much 
smaller areas. 



26 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

The monotonous expanses comprising the stream-built slopes are 
modified in southern Grant County by (1) ancient shore features, 
(2) erosion features, (3) sand dunes, and (4) lava beds. 

ALKALI FLATS OR PLAYAS. 

Alkali flats, or playas, are features distinctive of the closed drain- 
age basins of the arid West. They occupy the lowest parts of the 
basins. In southern Grant County alkali flats occur in Lower 
Animas, Lower Playas, and Lordsburg valleys. (See PL I, in pocket.) 
After heavy rains they may be covered by sheets of water, seldom 
more than a few inches in depth but often several square miles in 
extent. These shallow sheets of water soon evaporate, and on evapo- 
ration deposit their dissolved mineral matter and the fine clayey 
material which they hold in suspension, thus in time forming surfaces 
that are smooth and nearly level. When dry these surfaces are 
generally checkered with innumerable small sun cracks, are mottled 
with black, brown, and white alkali stains, and are so hard that the 
wheels of a heavily laden wagon hardly leave an impression. The 
flats are devoid of vegetation except for scattered bunches of alkali- 
resistant weeds and grasses, found chiefly along the margins. (See 
Pis. Ill, A, and VI, B, p. 76.) 

When flooded the playas perform some of the functions of ordinary 
lakes. Along their edges shore features, such as pebbly beaches, 
beach ridges, sand bars, spits extending out from the shore, and sand 
dunes on the sides opposite the prevailing winds may be reproduced 
in miniature. 

ANCIENT SHORE FEATURES. 

There were at one time many lakes in the interior drainage basins 
of the Western States. A few of the largest basins still contain rem- 
nants of these ancient lakes, such as Great Salt Lake, in Utah, and Car- 
son and Pyramid lakes, in Nevada, but the lakes in most of the smaller 
basins are represented only by alkali flats, which may become sub- 
merged during the rainy seasons. 

The largest of these ancient bodies of water were Lake Bonneville, 
described by Gilbert, 1 and Lake Lahontan, described by Russell. 2 
They have shrunk to comparatively insignificant dimensions but 
have left abundant evidence of their former size in wave-cut cliffs 
and terraces, beach ridges, sand bars, spits, deltas, and various other 
shore features. Topographic features that are smaller but no less 
characteristic of landlocked bodies of water occur in the Estancia 

i Gilbert, G. K., Lake Bonneville: U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 1, 1S90. 

8 Russell, I. ('., Geological history of Lake Lahontan, a Quaternary lake of northwestern Nevada: U. S. 
Geol. Survey Mon. 11, 1885. 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 422 PLATE III 




A. LOWER PLAYAS VALLEY, SHOWING PLAYAS LAKE; HACHITA RANGE IN 

RACKGROUND. 




B. TYPICAL VEGETATION OF SAND-DUNE AREA IN LOWER ANIMAS VALLEY. 




U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 422 PLATE IV 




A. BEACH DEPOSITS IN LOWER ANIMAS VALLEY, SHOWING HORIZONTAL BEDDING. 




B. CENTRAL PLAIN OF UPPER PLAYAS VALLEY IN VICINITY OF OJO DE LAS 

CIENEGAS. 



PHYSIOGKAPHY AND DRAINAGE. 27 

and Encino valleys/ in New Mexico, and in the Sulphur Spring Val- 
ley, 2 in Arizona. 

In southern Grant County there were at least three ancient lakes — 
one in Lower Animas Valley, one in San Luis Valley, and one in 
Lower Playas Valley — and a fourth lake probably existed in Hachita 
Valley but almost wholly in Mexican territory. As these lakes were 
comparatively small and shallow their shore features are not large, 
and as the features were formed in unconsolidated valley fill they 
were easily eradicated by erosion. Consequently the record of the 
Grant County lakes is comparatively incomplete. Certain features 
however, such as beaches, terraces, and embankments are preserved 
as distinct landmarks on the otherwise nearly featureless plains, and 
by the aid of these it is possible to trace the areas covered by the lakes. 

These ancient lakes are described in detail on pages 86-88, 100- 
104, 108, and 120, and the location of the shore features is shown on 
the map (PL I, in pocket) . 

EROSION FEATURES. 

In most parts of southern Grant County the flood waters are still 
depositing and building up the alluvial slopes, but in some places, 
chiefly in Upper Animas Valley and in Hachita Valley, the smooth 
alluvial slopes are being dissected by erosion into innumerable gul- 
lies. (See PL I.) The erosion cycle thus begun is probably the 
result of the climatic changes indicated by the ancient shore features, 
for these climatic changes involved changes both in the transporting 
power and in the base-levels of the streams, thus necessarily disturb- 
ing the aggradational adjustments. The erosion features and their 
causes are more fully discussed on pages 31-33. 

SAND DUNES. 

There are three principal sand-dune areas in southern Grant 
County, situated respectively in Lower Animas, Lower Playas, and 
San Luis valleys. (See PL I.) They are on the northeast or lee- 
ward sides of the three ancient lake beds and probably owe their 
existence to the former presence of these lakes. They are described 
on page 35. 

LAVA BEDS. 

Lava beds that are geologically of recent origin are found in several 
places in southern Grant County. The principal lava bed in the val- 
ley areas is in the Animas basin, west of Animas station. (See PL I.) 
It is described on pages 35-36. 

1 Mcinzcr, O. E., Geology and water resource's of Kstancia Valley, N. Mew.: (J. S. Cool. Survey Water- 
Supply Paper 275, pp. 18-23, 1911. 

2 Meinzor, (). io., Kelton, F. C, and Forbes, it. ir., Geology and water resources of Sulphur Spring Val- 
ley, Ariz.: U. S. Gool. Survey Water-Supply Paper 320, pp. 34 38, 1913, 



28 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

GEOLOGY. 
PRE-QUATERNARY ROCKS. 

In the study of the water resources of this region particular atten- 
tion was given to the unconsolidated sediments that fill the valleys 
and contain nearly all the water that exists in the region. No 
attempt was made to map the geology of the mountain areas. A 
general knowledge of the distribution and character of the rocks and 
of the geologic structure was, however, obtained, as these are impor- 
tant in their bearing on the character of the valley sediments, which 
are derived from the rocks, and on the configuration of the rock floor 
of the valleys, on which the sediments have been deposited. The 
following brief account of the rock geology is based on the fragmen- 
tary knowledge obtained from previous reconnaissance work and on 
the few observations made during the present investigation. 

Pre-Cambrian rocks are known only in the northeastern part of 
the area, where they form the core of the Little Burro Mountains and 
comprise gneiss and schist intruded by bodies of granite and by 
dikes of pegmatite and diabase. Carboniferous and probably other 
Paleozoic limestones, sandstones, and quartzites outcrop in many 
parts of the region, including the Peloncillo, Animas, San Luis, and 
Hatchet ranges and Apache Hills. Cretaceous rocks have not been 
definitely identified in this region but may be represented in dark- 
gray fire clay mined in the Peloncillo Range 2 miles south of Pratt, in 
a series of hard sandstones and shales outcropping on the north slope 
of Hachita Peak, and in a series of thin-bedded shales and limestones 
overlying Carboniferous limestones in the Hachita Range north of 
Livermore Spring. So far as known, there are no sedimentary rocks 
of Tertiary age in the area except possibly in the Guadalupe Range, 
where Mearns 1 reports a deposit containing many Tertiary fossils. 
Igneous rocks and breccias of probable Tertiary age occur extensively 
throughout the region. They vary greatly in texture and composi- 
tion but fine-grained acidic rocks predominate. 

Except for some general observations made in 1853 by Thomas 
Antisell 2 at the time of the Mississippi River-Pacific Ocean railroad 
survey, by Gilbert 3 in connection with the survey west of the one-' 
hundredth meridian in 1873, and by L. C. Graton and Waldemar 
Lindgren 4 in 1905 during cursory visits to the mining districts 
in the northern part of the range, no geologic work has been done 
in the Peloncillo Range. The core of the range is formed of granitic 

1 Mearns, E. A., Mammals of the Mexican boundary of the United States: U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 56, pt. 
1, p. 94, 1907. 

2 Explorations and surveys for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, 1853-1856, 
vol. 7, pt. 2, pp. 152-153, 1857. 

a Gilbert, G. K., U. S. Geog. and Geol. Surveys W. 100th Mcr. Rept., vol. 3, p. 513, 1875. 
4 Lindgren, Waldemar, Graton, L. C., and Gordon, C. II., The ore deposits of New Mexico: U. S. Geol. 
Survey Prof. Paper 68, pp. 329-332, 1910. 



GEOLOGY. 29 

and porphyritic igneous rocks intruded into sedimentary rocks 
largely of Paleozoic age. In regard to fche structure and general 
disposition of the rocks Gilbert 1 says: 

At Peloncillo Peak Antisell noted only volcanic rocks, but at Gavilan Peak, 10 
miles beyond, the sedimentaries are once more exposed. They comprise limestones 
and sandstones, and are probably of the Paleozoic series observed in the Chiricahui 
Range. Carboniferous fossils were seen in their debris. The strata dip at a high angle 
toward both flanks of the range, and upon their upturned edges rests the granite 
which constitutes the peak. The circumstances admit of no question that the granite 
in this case is eruptive and was extruded after or during the disturbance of the 
Paleozoic strata. The limestones, at their contact with the granite, are converted 
to white, coarsely crystalline marble; and the same metamorphism is to be seen along 
the margin of a heavy dike of granite in the vicinity. The granite is fine grained, 
and consists chiefly of quartz and albite. Its body is traversed in one place by a dike 
of quartz porphyry. , 

At the north end of the Animas Range bluish-gray limestones 
with inclusions of siliceous material resembling the limestone of 
the Hatchet Range were noted at several places. Along the road 
leading through the San Luis Pass volcanic rocks in great pro- 
fusion were noted. The San Luis Range, farther south, is stated 
by Mearns 2 to be composed largely of calcareous rock. 

The Pyramid Range consists chiefly or entirely of volcanic rocks. 
Thomas Antisell 3 thought that it was similar in structure to the 
Peloncillo Range, but he does not mention finding any sedimen- 
tary rocks. G. K. Gilbert 4 found only volcanic rocks. Likewise 
Graton, 5 in examining the Lordsburg mining district, found only 
volcanic rocks, a diorite porphyry being the most prevalent, and he 
mentions andesite as making up the bulk of the rocks farther south 
in the range. 

The Hatchet Range is similar to the Animas and Haehita ranges 
in consisting of tilted and faulted Paleozoic limestone, probable 
Cretaceous shale and sandstone, and intrusive granite and porphyry. 
One of the peaks examined at the north end of the range consists 
wholly of massive bluish-gray limestone containing many inclusions 
of siliceous material. Several small buttes in the gap to the north 
consist of the same rock, in places intruded by a lava and metamor- 
phosed to marble. 

Several mountain blocks north of Alamo Hueco are tilted toward 
the northeast and have scarps facing southwest, thus trending in 
the same direction as the ridges in the Dog Mountains. Many of 
the limestone cliffs in the vicinity of Hatchet Mountain also face 

1 U. S. Geog. and Gcol. Surveys W. 100th Mcr. Rcpt., vol. 3, p. 514, 1875. 

2 Mearns, E. A., op. cit., p. 90. 

8 Antisell, Thomas, Explorations and surveys for a railroad route from the Mississippi River to the 
Pacific Ocean, 1853-1856, vol. 7, pp. 152-153, 1857. 

« Op. cit., pp. 514-515. 

6 Lindgren, Waldomar, Graton, L. C., and Gordon, C. H., The oro deposits of Now Moxico: U, S. QeoL 
Survey Prof. Paper 68, pp. 332-335, 1910. 



30 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

southwest. This structure probably indicates faulting along north- 
west-southeast lines. 

Geologically the Hachita Range is related to the Hatchet and 
Animas ranges. 1 In the Eureka mining district, in the northern 
part of the range, near the site of the old town of Hachita, the rocks 
are mainly limestones (probably Paleozoic), cut by abundant sheets 
and dikes of a quartzose porphyry. 2 

In the Sylvanite district, 3 which extends from Livermore Spring 
to Granite Gap, a thick series of thin-bedded quartzites, dark shales, 
limestones, and dolomites of Paleozoic or younger age are found. 
These rocks dip to the southwest, are considerably faulted, and 
have been intruded by porphyry of several types. In the region 
north of Livermore Spring limestone, probably Carboniferous, 
is overlain by a series of thin-bedded shales and limestone, probably 
of Cretaceous age. South of Sylvanite the Hachita Range con- 
sists mainly of sedimentary rocks dipping toward the southwest 
and intruded by dikes and sheets of porphyry. Near Granite Gap 
the rocks, which consist of thin-bedded shale, quartzite, and granite, 
have been considerably disturbed by faulting. 

The Apache Hills appear to consist chiefly of a quartz-bearing 
porphyry. 4 In the foothills on the southwest, along the Hachita 
road, there are outcrops of bluish-gray limestones with gentle dip, 
evidently belonging to the Paleozoic system. The Apache mine, 
2 miles south of the corner made by the international boundary 
line, is on the contact of the limestone with the porphyry. The 
group of small hills about 3^ miles north of the Apache Hills, on 
the north side of the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad, consist of 
dark volcanic rock. 

Geologically 5 the Little Burro Mountains are related to the Big 
Burro Mountains to the north, being composed chiefly of pre- 
Cambrian gneiss and schist cut by rather fine grained granites and 
by dikes of pegmatite and diabase. 

QUATERNARY DEPOSITS. 
ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION. 

The most widespread formation and the most important with 
respect to water supplies is the valley fill, which underlies more 
than two-thirds of the area. Classified according to origin the valley 
fill comprises four kinds of deposits, which, named in the order of 

i Lindgren, Waldemar, Graton, L. C, and Gordon, C. H., The ore deposits of New Mexico: U. S. 
Geol. Survey Prof. Paper G8, p. 295, 1910. 

2 Idem, p. 336. 

3 Idem, pp. 339-340. 
«Idem, pp. 343-344. 
b Idem, pp. 326-327. 



GEOLOGY. 31 

their importance, are as follows: (1) Stream deposits, including 
gravel, sand, and clay derived from the older rocks of the moun- 
tains, carried down, and spread over the valleys by torrential streams ; 
(2) lake deposits, including gravel, sand, and clay laid down in 
bodies of water that formerly existed in the lowest parts of the 
valleys or in the thin sheets of water that temporarily cover the 
alkali flats at the present time; (3) wind deposits, consisting chiefly 
of sand along the shores of ancient lakes ; and (4) lavas, mostly basalt, 
spread over the unconsolidated material in the valleys and over 
the older rocks in the mountains. 

STREAM DEPOSITS. 

Origin. — The transportation and sorting of rock waste from the 
mountains and its deposition on adjacent land surfaces is one of the 
most common and elemental of geologic processes. In arid and 
semiarid regions it is also one of the most important. Deposits 
owing their origin to this process cover about three-fifths of the 
surface of the area under discussion. As soon as a land surface is 
exposed to the atmosphere the process of weathering begins. Under 
the action of various agencies the rocks are disintegrated and 
broken into fragments of all sizes, from huge boulders to impalpable 
clay. The streams remove this rock waste. 

The fundamental factors of the mechanics of erosion, transporta- 
tion, and deposition by streams are (1) the grade of the stream ways, 
(2) the volume of water, (3) the character of the streamways, or of 
the surfaces over which the streams flow, and (4) the character of 
the sediments transported. Within the mountain areas the streams 
are usually confined to narrow channels with steep gradients and 
hence are so swift that they sweep everything before them. As 
they emerge into the valleys their channels decrease in slope and 
widen out, and the underlying material is so porous that it absorbs 
the water rapidly. Hence deposition of material takes place, pro- 
ducing the alluvial fans or detrital slopes that constitute one of the 
most characteristic features of the deserts of the Southwest. 

Character. — The material forming the alluvial slopes is ro uglily 
arranged in zones or belts extending parallel to the mountain borders 
and at right angles to the courses of the streams. The coarsest 
material, consisting largely of boulders and large rock fragments, is 
in a zone along the edge of the mountains, with zones of successively 
finer materials down the slopes toward the centers of the valleys. 

Because of the uniformity with which the gradient changes on the 
stream-built slopes the transition from material of one class to that 
of another is very gradual and the boundaries between the zones are 
indefinite. As seen on the surface the material making up any 



32 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

particular zone is, because of imperfect sorting of the material, not 
homogeneous. Although the upper zone may contain a preponder- 
ance of coarse gravel it may also contain large quantities of sand 
and clay. 

In vertical section the material may be even less homogeneous. 
The cause of this may be best illustrated by considering the pro- 
cesses of slope building at the mouth of any canyon that discharges 
•flood waters on the plain. In a large flood boulders may be carried 
far out into the valley and deposited on top of the fine sediments laid 
down by a previous smaller flood. In the lower stages following the 
crest of this flood and in succeeding smaller floods sand and clay may, 
in turn, be deposited over the coarse material. Moreover, the main 
streamways, in which the coarsest gravel is deposited, are continually 
shifting their positions on the alluvial fans, as a result of which coarse 
materials become interbedded with fine sediments. A canyon having 
a large catchment area may, by reason of its larger volume of water, 
be carrying coarse material far from the mountain base while a 
neighboring smaller canyon is depositing fine material comparatively 
close to the mountains. As the cone at the mouth of the larger 
canyon is built up it expands laterally, the coarser sediments of its 
upper slopes blending with and overlapping the finer sediments of 
the lower slopes of its smaller neighbor. The continuous alluvial 
slopes extending along the fronts of the ranges are the result of the 
coalescing of innumerable fans. Every opening in the mountain wall, 
whether it is a large canyon or a small gully, is furnishing material 
for its own individual fan, which overlaps or blends with its neighbor. 

The breaking down of the rocks forming the mountains and the 
deposition of the debris in the valley troughs has been going on for 
a long time and is the chief geologic process taking place in this 
region at the present time. Most of the sediments underlying the 
valleys described in this report are believed to lie where they were 
originally deposited by the streams, although some rehandling has 
taken place in the lakes that formerly occupied parts of the valleys, 
on the slopes now being extensively eroded, as in Upper Animas 
Valley, and in many places where the wind has been more or less 
effective. 

Correlation. — The valley fill of southern Grant County can be 
correlated with the Gila conglomerate first described by Gilbert * 
from sections exposed along the gorges of the upper Gila and its 
tributaries. Gilbert assigns these beds to the Quaternary and 
states that they are continuous with the gravels which occupv 
the mountain troughs and floor the plains of the region bordering ^ne 
Gila. This relation is well shown in the northwestern part of the 

i Gilbert, G, K., U. S. Geog. and Geol. Surveys W. 100th Mer. Kept., vol. 3, pp. £40-641, 1875. 



GEOLOGY. 33 

area, where the detrital plain stretches toward the south and east 
between the several ranges and toward the north to Gila River, 
where underlying deposits are exposed. From Summit station, 
near the northwestern corner of the area, the Arizona & New Mexico 
Railway descends along a large gully or canyon to the Gila, and in 
this gully the beds underlying the plain are exposed, a section 330 
feet thick having been measured between Summit and Thomson 
station. 

Along Gila River the Quaternary deposits, after a long period of 
accumulation, have been extensively eroded, the general dissection 
according to Gilbert 1 amounting to more than 1,000 feet. Up to the 
present time the dissection has taken place mainly along the Gila and 
its principal tributaries and has not been carried very far back from 
these main drainage lines. If, however, the conditions remain for a 
long enough time as they are at present the filled valleys farther from 
the Gila will eventually also become deeply dissected. It is not 
difficult to conceive of the gullies which head at the divide between 
the Animas and Gila drainage basins working headward, draining 
the Animas basin into Gila River, and causing extensive dissection 
of the Animas and Lordsburg valleys. 

Thickness. — On account of the unevenness of the rock floor on which 
the stream deposits rest the depth of these deposits varies greatly in 
different parts of the area. That the original rock surface was very 
irregular is suggested by the numerous buttes and hills in the valleys, 
some of them far from the mountains, representing protuberances 
of the rock floor above the sea of sediments. There are probably 
many other high places on the rock floor which do not project above 
the surface but which come near it and are covered by only a thin 
layer of sediments. In general the sediments are thickest in the 
parts of the valleys farthest from the mountains. 

At different points wells have been put down to considerable 
depths without reaching bedrock. In San Luis Valley, 4 J miles north 
of the Mexican boundary (well 181, PL II), the Victoria Land & 
Cattle Co. is said to have drilled a well 500 feet deep without striking 
bedrock. At the XT ranch (well 160), in Upper Animas Valley, a 
305-foot well was drilled with the same result. The Southern Pacific 
Railroad wells at the pumping plant 2 miles east of Lordsburg (well 
22) go down over 300 feet and end in sediments. At Separ the rail- 
road company has two wells (No. 5) over 600 feet deep, which do not 
reach bedrock. In Playas Valley west of Hatchet Gap the Winkler 
well (No. 264) reaches a depth of 836 feet without striking bedrock. 
$u.xij other wells throughout the area end in unconsolidated sedi- 
ments at depths of 200 feet or more. 

i Gilbert, G. K., U. S. Geog. and Geol. Surveys W. 100th Mer. Kept, vol 8, pp. 510-511, lS7f>. 
16939°— 18— wsp 422 3 



34 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

LAKE DEPOSITS. 

Stratified lake beds. — As far as can be determined from the logs of 
drilled wells, the interbedded clay, sand, and gravel encountered at 
shallow depths in the areas formerly occupied by permanent lakes in 
the Upper and Lower Animas and Lower Playas valleys differ little 
in composition from ordinary stream-laid deposits. As the lake beds 
have not been dissected no opportunity is offered for observing 
them in place. The homogeneity of the material in certain beds 
indicates that it has undergone a more thorough and selective grading 
than it would have received under ordinary conditions of stream 
deposition. Beds that are distinctive in one well may, however, 
pinch out or grade into different material so as not to be recognizable 
in a well only a short distance away. The top 10 or 20 feet of clay 
and sand encountered in all the wells on the ancient lake beds is more 
homogeneous than the deeper material and represents the last layer 
deposited on the floor of the lakes. It may in fact represent the total 
deposition during the lake epoch indicated by the existing shore 
features, and the deeper sediments may be ordinary stream deposits. 

On the alkali flats sediments are at present being deposited from 
flood waters during the intermittent periods of submergence. The 
heavier particles settle soon after they reach the flats, but the material 
held in solution and much of the fine materials in suspension are de- 
posited only when the water evaporates, and they form layers of 
exceedingly dense alkali-impregnated clay. 

In the Sulphur Spring Valley in Arizona x and in the San Simon 
Valley 2 thick beds of homogeneous clay, thought to be lake beds, are 
buried beneath stream deposits. In Grant County none of the wells 
that have been drilled show conditions comparable to these, and there 
is nothing in the arrangement and character of the deeper beds to 
indicate that they were not laid down by streams. Considerable 
thicknesses of clay were penetrated in some of the wells, but this clay 
is generally mixed with boulders and gritty material such as is 
commonly found in stream-deposited clays. 

Beach deposits. — The beaches and beach ridges along the shores 
of the ancient lakes are built of gravel and coarse sand. The pebbles 
and sand grains are all waterworn, and many of the pebbles are 
flattened, evidently through attrition by wave action. An excellent 
longitudinal section of a beach ridge is exposed in a gravel pit south 
of the railroad 2 J miles west of Steins, in the southwest corner of sec. 
6, T. 24 S., K. 20 W., from which the Southern Pacific Co. formerly 
dug material for track ballast. The material consists chiefly of clean, 
well-sorted, horizontally bedded sand and gravel. (See PI. IV, A; 
also pp. 86-88.) 

1 Meinzer, O. E., Kclton, F. C, and Forbes, R. H., Geology and water resources of Sulphur Spring Valley, 
Ariz.: U. S. Gcol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 320, pp. 57-62, 1913. 

2 Idem, p. 128. 



GEOLOGY. 35 



WIND DEPOSITS. 



Deposits formed by the wind are found for the most part in three 
localities — in Lower Animas Valley (chiefly Tps. 21 and 22 S., Rs. 19 
and 20 W.), in San Luis Valley (T. 33 S., R. 20 W.), and in Lower 
Playas Valley (Tps. 27 and 28 S., R. 17 W.). These deposits (see PL 
I, in pocket) consist principally of loose, shifting sands piled into low 
hills and ridges. 

In Lower Animas Valley the sand dunes cover an area of about 30 
square miles lying north and east of the alkali flats and of the shore 
line of the ancient lake. They consist principally of a medium- 
grained clean arkose sand of a prevailingly gray color with a slight 
reddish tinge imparted by the presence of red feldspar grains. The 
average thickness of the deposit for several miles back from the old 
shore line is about 50 or 60 feet, the maximum thickness in some 
places being perhaps 100 feet. Toward the edges the sand sheet thins 
out gradually and merges into the plain. Sand and clay, evidently 
deposited in their present position by the wind, are found along the 
northeastern border of the large alkali flat in Lower Animas Valley 
and on the east sides of the Lordsburg playas. 

In San Luis Valley a deposit of wind-blown sand forms a belt of 
low dunes about 2 J miles long and half a mile wide along the north- 
east shore of the ancient lake. The sand is piled up on the beach 
ridge and on the lower ground back of the ridge and on top of the 
ridge attains a maximum thickness of 30 or 40 feet. 

In Playas Valley wind deposits occupy a strip about half a mile 
wide, extending for 6 miles along the eastern edge of the northern 
part of the alkali flat. They consist chiefly of gray sand piled in 
low dunes back of the shore line of ancient Playas Lake. 

It is significant that all the larger sand deposits are along the 
northeast sides of the ancient lakes, leeward of the prevailing winds. 
The deposits probably accumulated at the time the ancient lakes 
existed, as sand dunes are common features in similar locations 
along the shores of modern lakes and seas. 

LAVA BEDS. 

The only volcanic rocks known to have been directly involved in 
the recent geologic history of the valleys are flows of basalt. They 
rest upon the Quaternary sediments and are the youngest igneous 
rocks in southern Grant County. 

The largest and most important lava flow of this kind is in Animas 
Valley. (See PL I, in pocket, and pp. 85-86.) Fresh surfaces of the 
basalt are predominantly of a dull black color, although locally 
they are reddish brown or blue gray. Weathered surfaces of the rock 
in place are mostly brown. Soils derived from it are brown with a 
distinct reddish tinge. In texture the basalt is fine grained, some- 
times very compact but usually vesicular. Evidently the lava 



36 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

was poured out in a comparatively thin sheet. The surface of the. 
lava sheet is now 15 to 45 feet higher than the surrounding plain, 
but this does not represent its whole thickness, for in many places 
the plain has been built up around it so as to partly submerge it in 
valley sediments. Some idea of the thickness of the lava and its 
relation to the valley fill may be gained from the following log of a 
well in a small draw within the lava sheet 2 miles southeast of Pratt: 



Log of well (No. 109) belonging to Ben Pague, in the SW. \ sec. 26, 

[Log furnished by owner.] 


T. 27 S. , 


R. 20 W. 




Thickness. 


Depth. 


Soil 


Feet. 
30 
12 
18 

77 


Feet. ' 
30 


"Malpais" (basalt) 


42 


Hard reddish baked sediments 


60 


Clay and gravel 


137 







The well log shows the bottom of the lava to be 42 feet below the 
surface of the plain at this place, and the general surface of the lava 
sheet bordering the draw is about 20 feet above the plain; conse- 
quently the total thickness of the lava bed in this region must be 
about 60 feet. In some places where the lava fills sags in the origi- 
nal surface upon which it was poured the thickness is probably 
greater. The 30-foot layer of soil above the lava represents sedi- 
mentation since the lava was extruded. The deposition of so much 
sediment probably required a long time according to human units, 
but the relation of the lava to the valley fill and the fact that weath- 
ering has produced relatively small effects on the lava show that geo- 
logically the lava flow is very young. 

Basaltic lava similar in character to that in Animas Valley occurs 
as a large flat-topped block extending parallel to and facing the 
El Paso & Southwestern Railroad 2 miles east of Hachita. The 
small group of hills culminating in Secho Mountain, 2 miles north- 
east of Summit station, consists of lava of similar character. As 
these lava beds, however, do not occur in such definite relationship 
to the Quaternary sediments as those of Animas Valley their age 

is not so certain. 

CLIMATE. 

PRECIPITATION. 

Records. — Records of precipitation have been obtained by the 
United States Weather Bureau at Lordsburg since 1882 and at 
Hachita, Pratt, and Rodeo since 1909. According to these records 
the average annual precipitation at Lordsburg during 33 years from 
1882 to 1914 is 9.23 inches. During the 5 years that records have 
been obtained at Hachita the precipitation has been nearly the 
same there as at Lordsburg, the annual average at Hachita during 
that time being 12.29 inches, as against 12.41 inches at Lordsburg. 



CLIMATE. 



37 



The records at the other stations are so incomplete that they are of 
little value. In round numbers, 10 inches may be taken as the 
average annual precipitation, at least in the northern half of the 
area. The monthly and yearly records for Lordsburg, Hachita, 
Pratt, and Rodeo are given in the following table: 

Precipitation in southern Grant County, N. Mex. 

Lordsburg. 

[Elevation, 4,245 feet.] 



Year. 


Jan. 


Feb. 


Mar. 


Apr. 


May. 


June. 


July. 


Aug. 


Sept. 


Oct. 


Nov. 


Dec. 


Annual. 


1882 


0.95 
.33 
.80 
.00 
.00 
.00 
.44 

4.07 
.92 
.10 
.50 

Trace 

.70 

.20 

Trace 

1.21 
.50 
.33 
.24 
.40 
Trace 
.00 
.14 

1.57 
.15 

2.52 

1.75 

Trace 

.48 

.64 

Trace 

1.00 
.88 


0.35 

.37 
.13 
.20 
.33 
.12 
.10 
.45 
.05 
1.52 
1.01 
.90 
.50 
.00 
Traee 
.20 
.00 
.08 
.10 
.50 
.10 
Trace 
.16 
3.35 
1.07 
.51 
.71 
.20 
.00 
.95 
1.15 
2.43 
.62 


0.38 
.00 

1.20 
.40 
.00 
.00 
.88 
.10 
.00 
.65 
.92 

1.00 
.20 
Trace 
.48 
.12 
.75 
.18 

1.25 
.20 
Trace 
.90 
.23 

3.24 
.07 
.00 
.34 

1.30 
.00 
.26 

2.14 
.51 
.45 


0.00 
.00 
.20 
Trace 
.00 
.00 
.00 
.20 
.13 
.00 
.71 
.00 
.00 
.00 
.00 
.00 
.16 
.04 
.49 
13 
.00 
.00 
.00 

1.27 
.07 
.27 
.68 
.00 
.02 
.83 
.07 
.35 
.00 


0.59 
.00 

Trace 
.40 
.00 
.10 
.00 
.00 
.00 
1.01 
.00 
1.96 
.00 
.40 
.20 
.00 
.00 
.00 
.00 

Trace 
.00 
.27 
.04 
.12 

Trace 
.60 
.20 
.00 
.42 

.06 

Trace 
1.17 


0.68 
.00 
.00 
.39 
.00 
.30 
.28 
.25 
.43 
.00 
.00 

Trace 
.00 
.40 
.40 
.00 
.33 
.70 
.00 
.00 
.20 
.58 
.38 
.56 
.00 

Trace 
.00 
.05 
.60 

1.31 
.51 
.28 
.93 


1.32 

1.00 

2.20 

.75 

1.54 

3.17 

2.97 

1.70 

3.11 

.00 

.05 

.90 

.89 

1.22 

1.91 

3.95 

2.33 

2.62 

.38 

2.30 

.85 

.45 

1.09 

2.10 

1.67 

2.20 

1.61 

4.22 

2.09 

2.46 

4.19 

.43 

2.63 


3.12 
3.45 
1.30 

.35 
1.65 
2.67 

.84 
1.28 
3.69 
1.10 

.20 
2.36 
4.30 

.45 
2.34 
1.25 

.17 

.50 
1.25 

.95 
2.55 

.70 
1.12 

.92 
1.80 
4..05 

.97 
2.36 

.87 

.50 
2.14 

.38 
4.06 


0.00 

.11 

2.35 

.05 

1.17 

1.31 

.76 

1.76 

1.90 

.88 

.05 

2.15 

.10 

.84 

1.51 

4.50 

.16 

1.18 

2.71 

.00 

.40 

93 

3.09 

2.59 

,02 

Trace 

.65 

.95 

Trace 

.58 



1.70 

1.00 


0.00 
.56 

2.55 
.20 
.17 
.00 

2.14 
.41 
.26 
.00 
.69 
.00 
.90 
.40 

6.46 

1.75 
.00 
.00 
.12 

2.17 
.13 
.00 
,69 
.32 
.00 

1.20 
.10 
.70 
.00 

1.60 

1.07 
.30 

2.81 


1.20 
.40 
.00 
.55 
.20 
.32 

1.50 
.02 
.60 
.00 
.00 
.00 
.00 

1.38 
.20 
.00 
.60 
.10 
.45 
.76 
.52 
.00 
.55 

2.93 

1.31 
.80 
.35 
.00 
.26 

.18 

3.89 
.69 


0.20 
.20 

1.46 
.70 
.00 
.70 
.92 
.10 

1.86 

40 

.00 

.05 

Trace 

.10 

.15 

.18 

.66 

Trace 

.00 

Trace 

1.12 
.21 

1.21 
.53 

3.42 
.00 

1.30 
.40 
.02 

2.60 

2.64 
.42 

4.46 


8.74 


1883 


6.42 


1884 


12.19 


1885 

1886 

1887 


3.99 

" 5.06 

8.69 


1888 

1899 


10.83 
10.34 


1890 

1891 

1892 

1893 


12.95 
5.66 
4.13 
9.32 


1894 

1895 


7.59 
5.39 


1896 


13.55 


1897 


13.16 


1898 

1899 


5.66 
5.73 


1900 


' 6.99 


1901 


7.41 


1902 


5.87 


1903 : 

1904 


4.04 
8.70 


1905 


19.50 


1906 


9.58 


1907 


12.15 


1908 


8.66 


1909 


10.18 


1910 


4.76 


1911 

1912 


11.73 
14.15 


1913 


11.69 


1914 


19.70 






Mean 


.63 


.55 


.55 


.17 


.23 


.28 


1.83 


1.69 


1.07 


.84 


.60 


.79 


9.23 



Hachita. 

[Elevation, 4,504 feet.) 



Year. 


Jan. 


Feb. 


Mar. 


Apr. 


May. 


June. 


July. 


Aug. 


Sept. 


Oct. 


Nov. 


Dec. 


Annual. 


1909 














1.91 
.97 
4.74 
3.25 
1.22 
6.29 


4.77 
1.26 
.98 
4.46 
1.95 
1.34 


0.26 
.61 
1.93 

1.92 
1.26 


0.53 
Trace 
1.27 
1.10 
.10 
1.59 


0.00 
.30 
.19 
.08 

2.26 
.33 


0.91 
.14 
.82 

3.67 
.83 

2.33 




1910 

1911 

1912.... 


0.15 

.65 



.52 

.20 


0.14 
.76 

.45 
1.44 
Trace 


0.36 
.18 

1.50 
.29 
.05 


Trace 

0.27 

.69 

.20 

.00 


0.00 
Trace 

0.15 
.20 
.06 


0.45 
1.42 
Trace 
.36 
3.77 


4.38 
13.21 
15. 35 


1913 


11.29 


1914../ 


17.21 






Mean 


.30 


.56 


.48 


.23 


.08 


1.20 


3.29 


2.00 


1.14 


.81 


.63 


1.56 


12.28 



Pratt. 

[Elevation, 4,415 feet.] 



Year. 


Jan. 


Feb. 


Mar. 


Apr. 


May. 


June. 


July. 


Aug. 


Sept. 


Oct. 


Nov. 


Dec. 


Annual. 


1909 














0. 56 


4.73 
.99 
1.33 
2. 73 
2.17 


1. 53 

.20 

1.38 

1.20 
. 68 


0.00 



nl.40 

.75 
.08 


Trace 

0. 50 
.IS 
.28 

2.SS 


0. IS 


2.07 
.93 
.90 




1910 


Trace 

0.80 



. 50 

. 85 


Trace 
1.62 

.58 
2. 45 

.00 






1.00 

.15 




0.45 
.04 
.20 








Trace 


0.77 
1. 55 
.48 
.04 


3. 79 
2.76 
1. 56 
3.41 


0. 25 


1911 


13. 54 


1912 


9.55 


1913 

1914 


l:i. 11 


























Mean 


.33 


1.16 


.29 


.17 





.71 


2.88 


1.81 


.85 


.56 


.96 


.98 


10.70 



Interpolated. 



38 



GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 



Precipitation in southern Grant County, N. Mex. — Continued. 

Rodeo. 

[Elevation, 4,118 feet.] 



Year. 


Jan. 


Feb. 


Mar. 


Apr. 


May. 


June. 


July. 


Aug. 


Sept. 


Oct. 


Nov. 


Dec. 


Annual. 


1909 














3.28 
3.26 
3.47 
1.50 
.80 
a4.50 


2.59 
.58 
1.81 
2.23 
1.62 
1.00 


1.20 

.18 

.85 

.10 

2.37 

2.40 


Trace 


0.90 
.77 
.26 

3.60 


0.08 

.79 



.28 

ol.50 

1.06 


0.75 

1.91 
1.04 
.95 
5.43 




1910 


0.18 

1.02 



.53 

.50 



1.58 

.30 
1.15 

.10 


0.19 

.28 

1.79 

Trace 

.93 


0.10 

Trace 



.23 

Trace 


0.06 

Trace 



«0 

.24 


1.29 

1.24 

a. 50 

.00 

.48 


6.63 


1911 


13.06 


1912 


8.51 


1913 


9.41 


1914 


20.84 






Mean 


.43 


.63 


.64 


.07 


.08 


.75 


2.26 


1.57 


1.18 


1.11 


.53 


2.44 


11.69 



a Interpolated. 

Fluctuations from year to year. — The fluctuation in precipitation 
from year to year at any one station is great. This is well shown 
by figure 2, which represents the annual precipitation at Lords- 
burg. The wettest years on record are 1905, when the precipitation 



20 



15 



£10 



33 years 



Avera ge for 



D 



tffiD 



oo oo 35 o> os 3> Oi 



oo o o 






Figure 2.— Diagram showing annual precipitation at Lordsburg. 

amounted to 19.50 inches, and 1914, when it amounted to 19.70 
inches, in both years more than twice the average amount. The 
other extreme is represented by 3.99 inches in 1885, 4.13 inches in 
1892, and 4.04 inches in 1903, when less than half the average amount 
of rain fell. In 15 years out of the 33 the precipitation equaled or 
exceeded the average, 9.23 inches, and for 18 years it fell below 
the average. It is interesting to note, however, that during the 
10-year period beginning and ending with the excessively wet years 
1905 and 1914 the average annual precipitation was 12.19 inches 
and in only two years was the precipitation less than the long-term 
average. The diagram (fig. 2) also shows that the wet and dry 
years usually occur in groups. 

Seasonal distribution. — The precipitation occurs principally during 
two seasons of the year, a primary maximum occurring during the 
months of July to September, inclusive, and a secondary maximum 
during the cold months of the year. 1 



Summary of the climatological data for the United Slates, sec. 3, pp. 21-22, U. S. Weather Bureau, 1908. 



Climate. 



39 



Figure 3, showing the actual and average monthly precipitation 
at the several stations in the area, brings out this fact clearly. The 
following table gives average precipitation, in inches, and the per- 



1910 1911. 1912. 1913 1914 






JjOicsburs* 




■ i . _ i_i . i 11 Li 


— — .-- a-~i~|~~| III ri ; . Ill » 


raum nun i m is m i ■ ntuwrn mm m i 



Hatmiti, 









B 



I 



mm mmm uuwm 



H 



I. 



.i. 



I: 



No 



T 



Eiiiii it »!ii n » 1 1 mi in m n ran iim i n tumii'ii 



Roc do 






£1 



mi rwi i R!i 1 1 nnai isa mi ii mi spiii 



Figure 3.— Diagram showing actual and average monthly precipitation in southern Grant County, 
1910-1914. The curves a, b, c, d represent the average precipitation for the five years. 

centage of the total precipitation for each month of the year, cal- 
culated from the records at Lordsburg for a period of 33 years, given 
on page 37. 



40 



GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 



JD 

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CLIMATE. 41 

Monthly and seasonal distribution of precipitation at Lordsburg, N. Mez. 



Month. 



January.. 
February 

March 

April 

May 

June 



Average 

pre- 
cipitation 
in inches. 



0.63 
.55 
.55 

.17 
.23 
.28 



Per cent of 
total pre- 
cipitation. 



6^19 



• 



Month. 



July 

August — 
September 
October... 
November 
December. 



Average 

pre- 
cipitation 
in inches. 



1.83 
1.G9 
1.07 
.84 
.60 
.79 



Per cent of 
total pre- 
cipitation. 



201 

18^50 

12J 

6^24 



The heaviest rains usually fall in July and August in thunder- 
storms of short duration. Figure 4, showing the daily precipitation 
for 1914 at several stations in southern Grant County, gives a good 
idea of the magnitude of some of the storms during the summer. 
At Hachita, for instance, 2 inches of rain — nearly 10 per cent of the 
total precipitation for the year — fell on July 21. On June 11 and 
June 17 the precipitation was 1.45 and 1.50 inches, respectively, 
each more than 8-J- per cent of the annual precipitation. The three 
days mentioned therefore contributed 29 per cent, or nearly one- 
third, of the total precipitation for that year. 

Regional distribution. — The local character of the rains is also shown 
by figure 4. Lordsburg, a little more than 30 miles northeast of 
Hachita, received no rain on the dates mentioned above, in spite 
of the fact that the country is open and that there are no considerable 
mountain ranges intervening between the two places to intercept 
the moisture-laden winds. 

According to the United States Weather Bureau: 1 

While the rains of summer are local in character and generally traceable to the 
influence of the mountains interposing their masses to the free passage of the rain- 
bearing winds, the precipitation of winter is the result of general storm movements 
over the district, induced by the low areas that develop over the Gulf of California 
and the lower Colorado Valley, the greater part of the moisture from which, however, 
is deposited in regions far to the eastward. During the winter months the moisture 
at the higher elevations [as in southern Grant County] is precipitated as snow. 



TEMPERATURE. 

The daily range in temperature is large. In summer months the 
heat during the day is sometimes great, but the nights are usually 
comfortable. In June, July, and August the thermometer frequently 
rises above 100° F., but the dryness of the air and the rapid evap- 
oration of the moisture from the body eliminate to a large extent 
the inconveniences and dangers of high temperatures so common 
in more humid climates. 



1 Summary of the climatologicul data f >r the United Btates: U. S. Weather Bureau Hull., see. :?, pp. 
21-22, 1912. 



42 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

Figure 5 shows the maximum, minimum, and mean monthly 
temperatures at Lordsburg during five years — 1910 to 1914. The 
highest recorded temperature during these five years was 106° F. in 



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June, 1914, and the lowest temperature was 9° below zero in Jan- 
uary, 1913. The mean summer temperature is about 80° F. and the 
mean winter temperature about 40° F. 



soil. 43 

SOIL. 
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 

The following statements in regard to the general characteristics 
of the soils of arid regions have been taken largely from Bulletin 
85 of the Bureau of Soils : 1 

The distinguishing characteristics of arid soils are (1) a large 
quantity of soluble mineral matter, (2) low content of organic matter, 
(3) generally gray or light color, (4) deep soils with little change in 
character with depth, and (5) marked productiveness when irrigated. 
The large amount of soluble mineral matter in the soils of arid 
regions is due to the low precipitation. In humid climates much of 
the soluble matter is leached out and carried off by drainage waters, . 
whereas under arid conditions it remains in the soil. The soils of 
arid regions contain less organic matter than those of humid regions. 
The light color of arid soils is due largely to the absence of much 
humus. The dry climate not only prevents the production of much 
humus but also causes the rapid disappearance of that which is 
formed. Arid soils do not as a rule change much with depth in 
color, texture, or productiveness. In humid regions plants do not 
thrive where the surface soil has been removed, but in arid regions 
good crops are obtained on freshly exposed material from several feet 
below the surface. The marked productiveness of most arid soils 
when irrigated is well known. It has often been pointed out that 
some of the earliest and most highly organized civilizations were 
developed in arid regions. 

According to the manner of their formation, the soils of southern 
Grant County are mainly of three classes, (1) residual soils, (2) 
wind-deposited soils, and (3) alluvial soils. Residual soils are those 
formed in place from the disintegration of the underlying rocks. 
They occur principally in the mountain areas, but are found also 
where lava sheets (malpais) have been poured out over the valley 
surfaces. Soils composed of wind-deposited material are found in 
dune regions along the borders of some of the dry lakes and more or 
less in other localities. Alluvial soils, or soils formed from material 
brought down from the mountains and deposited by water, cover 
the greater part of the valley areas. They grade in texture from the 
coarse gravels of the upper slopes to the dense, exceedingly fine- 
grained clays of the alkali flats. The soils best suited for agriculture 
are those of an intermediate texture. 



i Coffey, G. II., A study of the soils of tho United States: U.S. Dept. Agr, Bur. Soils Bull. 85, pp. 3841, 
1912. 



44 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

ALKALI. 
FORMATION AND ACCUMULATION. 

As rocks disintegrate to form soil various substances are freed that 
are readily soluble in water. Some of these substances are useful 
"as plant food and some are harmful if present in large amounts. 
The commonest water-soluble constituents of the soil are the chloride, 
sulphate, carbonate, and bicarbonate of soda, collectively known as 
alkali. Quantities of the salts present in soils are carried off by water 
flowing over the surface and percolating through the soil. Condi- 
tions due to arid climate are said to be conducive to fertile soils in 
that the salts essential to plant growth are not leached out of the soil. 
These same conditions, on the other hand, have been the cause of 
the unproductiveness of certain areas, for they have allowed too 
great a concentration of salts injurious to plants. The comparative 
poverty of the soil of humid regions in soluble salts and the excess 
of such salts in certain soils of arid regions is directly attributable 
to the manner of disposal of the salts after they have been leached 
from the soils in which they originated. In humid regions most of 
the salts dissolved out of the soil are carried out through the drain- 
age into the ocean; in arid regions they are redeposited in the soil 
as the waters are evaporated. 

The greatest concentration naturally occurs in places where the 
largest amounts of water are evaporated, as in areas where .the 
ground water is shallow and rises to the surface by capillarity and in 
areas where surface water collects. In many soils water will not 
rise by capillarity higher than 5 feet above the water table, but in 
some it has been known to rise as much as 10 feet. 1 

Except in the vicinity of springs and at a very few other places 
the ground water in the valleys of southern Grant County is too deep 
for capillary rise to the surface. Capillarity therefore can not be 
considered an important factor in accumulating alkali in the soil at 
present, but possibly some of the older buried soils have become 
charged with alkali by this process. Most of the alkali deposits that 
are now being accumulated in the low central parts of the undrained 
valleys are the result of the evaporation of standing surface water. 

KINDS OF ALKALI. 

A distinction is usually made between the black alkali — sodium 
carbonate (Na 2 C0 3 ) or sal soda — and the white alkalies, which are 
principally sodium chloride (NaCl) or common salt, and sodium 
sulphate (Na 2 S0 4 ) or Glauber's salt. Black alkali, although it is 
white, is so called because of the dark color it imparts to the surface 

1 In experiments conducted at the California Experiment Station, Loughridge observed a maximum 
rise of 10.17 feet, llilgard, E. W., Soils, p. 203, 1916. 



soil. 45 

soil and to standing water, and the dark stain is usually, though not 
always, an indication of its presence. A dark color may be produced 
by less harmful salts, and if the soil contains little humus it may not 
be dark even if it contains sodium carbonate. The effect of the 
different alkali salts on soil and vegetation and their relative harmful- 
ness are discussed as follows by T. H. Kearney, 1 of the Bureau of 
Plant Industry: 

Black alkali * * '* is far more injurious to plants than the white-alkali salts. 
It is a strong corrosive, causing the decay of plant tissue. Trees growing in black- 
alkali land are sometimes completely girdled at the crown through the corrosive 
action of the sodium carbonate. This salt also has a bad effect upon the texture of 
heavy soils, causing them to become puddled. 

The white-alkali salts are not corrosive, but when freely taken up into the cells 
of the plant they cause serious disturbances in its nutrition. If present in the soil in 
sufficient quantity, these salts also hinder the absorption of water by the plant roots, 
so that even when the soil is quite wet the plants may actually be suffering from lack 
of water. This is doubtless one of the chief reasons why seeds germinate more slowly 
where alkali is present. 

The chloride type of white alkali is somewhat more harmful to most crop plants 
than the sulphate type. The bicarbonates as such do not appear to be very injurious, 
but there is always danger where bicarbonates are present that black alkali will be 
formed by chemical action. 

DISTRIBUTION OF ALKALI. 

Samples of soil were taken at 53 localities so chosen that each 
sample would be representative of the soils in as large an area as 
possible and would furnish information as to the chemical character- 
istics of some of the common types of soil. The samples were ob- 
tained by boring with a soil auger. With a few exceptions borings 
were carried to a depth of 4 feet, two samples of soil being taken 
from each boring— one from the first foot and one from the last 3 
feet. A chemical analysis of the water-soluble content of each 
sample was made in the laboratories of the New Mexico experiment 
station. Notes were taken in the field of the physical character of 
the soil and of the vegetation on the area represented by each sample. 
The results of the analyses, with notes on the physical character of 
the soil and the predominant vegetation, are given in the table on 
pages 144-149. The investigation was confined for the most part to 
the areas which show symptoms of the presence of alkali. 

The results of the chemical analyses are also shown on Plate I, 
symbols being used to represent the different degrees of concentra- 
tion of alkali, according to the classification adopted by the United 
States Bureau of Soils in the construction of alkali maps, which is as 
follows: (1) Negligible alkali — less than 0.2 per cent of total salts or 
less than 0.05 per cent of black alkali; (2) weak alkali — 0.2 to 0.4 
per cent of total salts or 0.05 to 0.1 per cent of black alkali; (3) 

1 Tho choice of crops Tor alkali land: U. S. Dopt. Agr. [farmers' l>nll. I Hi, pp. s <), mil. 



46 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

medium alkali— 0.4 to 0.6 per cent of total salts or 0.1 to 0.2 per cent 
of black alkali; (4) strong alkali — 0.6 to 1 per cent of total salts or 
0.2 to 0.3 per cent of black alkali; and (5) excessive alkali — more than 
1 per cent of total salts or more than 0.3 per cent of black alkali. 
The values used for total soluble salts (total alkali) and for sodium 
carbonate (black alkali) are the average amounts to the depth of the 
boring (usually 4 feet). 

If grown on soils containing a negligible amount of alkali none of 
the common crops will suffer injury unless practically all the salts 
are concentrated near the surface. On weak-alkali soils all but the 
most sensitive crops will thrive. Good crops may be expected of 
all forage crops and of most cereals. Alfalfa, when well started, 
grows on land of this class, although it is sometimes difficult to get a 
good stand. Sugar beets, sorghum, and barley should also do well. 
Medium-alkali soils will not as a rule produce large yields of any of 
the common crops. Sorghum, sugar beets, and some varieties of 
oats and barley may be made to produce fair crops under ordinary 
conditions by careful preparation of the seed bed and washing down 
of the salts by heavy irrigation. For strongly alkaline soils crops 
with exceptional resisting qualities must be chosen. According to 
Dorsey 1 the Australian saltbush and sorghum can often be grown 
with profit where other crops fail. He says: 

Certain saltbushes withstand large quantities of alkali. Saltbushes from Australia 
were introduced into California more than 20 years ago, but the most valuable species 
was not brought in until many years later. This is now commonly known as the 
Australian saltbueh (Atriplex semibaccata), and, on account of its rank growth and 
ability to resist drought as well as alkali, has been somewhat extensively cultivated 
in California, Arizona, and New Mexico. It may be used for pasturage or cut and 
cured as hay, yields of several tons per acre being not at all unusual. 

While the cultivation of saltbushes has not perhaps been practiced long enough to 
make definite statements as to the future, sufficient trials have been made to prove 
that under certain conditions some revenue may be derived from land that would 
otherwise be nonproductive. On lands which will admit of other more profitable 
crops to be grown, sorghum ranks high as an alkali-resistant crop. At the Tulare 
substation the California experiment station reports sorghum growing luxuriantly 
in soils having a large amount of alkali, the surface often having a very dark incrusta- 
tion from the black alkali. In the surface foot of soil chemical analysis revealed 
0.872 per cent of total salts, a little more than half this quantity in the second foot, and 
slightly less quantities in the third and the fourth foot. The predominating salt was 
sulphate. From these results sorghum would seem to have a high tolerance for alkali 
salts and may be expected to grow where many other crops fail. 

On the excessively alkaline soils it is hopeless to attempt the culti- 
vation of any crop until a part of the alkali is removed. 

Alkali accumulates in greatest quantity in the low central parts of 
the undrained valleys, where the surplus run-off collects and forms 
shallow lakes in the rainy season. As the fine texture of the soils 

i Dorsey, C. W., Reclamation of alkali soils: U. S. Dcpt. Agr. Bur. Soils Bull. 34, pp. 14-19, 1906. 



soil. 47 

prevents much downward percolation most of this water evaporates 
and the salts which it carries are left in the soil. Where this process 
is repeated from year to year the soil finally becomes strongly 
impregnated with alkali. These areas, usually bare of native vegeta- 
tion, are known throughout the Southwest as " alkali flats." In 
southern Grant County they form parts of Lower Animas, Lower 
Playas, and Lordsburg valleys. (See maps, Pis. I and II.) Stains on 
the surface of the alkali flats give abundant evidence of the existence 
of both black and white alkali in the soil, and this evidence is con- 
firmed by analyses of the soil. Samples 8, 10, and 12, taken from 
the south alkali flat of the Lower Animas Valley contained, respec- 
tively, 0.908, 0.916, and 0.766 per cent of total alkali, a large part of 
which was black alkali. Sample 32, from the alkali fiat of Lower 
Playas Valley, showed 1.279 per cent of total alkali, one-fourth of 
which was black alkali, and sample 6, from one of the small flats 
in the Lordsburg Valley, contained 0.632 per cent of total alkali, 
of which almost one-third was black alkali. (See PI. I and Table 2.) 
Soils that contain strong or excessive alkali and that are therefore 
generally unfit for farming are also found in certain comparatively 
small areas outside of the flats. They support some native vegeta- 
tion, but most of it is of a type very much more resistant to alkali 
than any of the cultivated crops. Most of the soil of this character 
is found in poorly drained areas near the flats in Lower Animas 
Lower Playas, and Lordsburg valleys. At most other places in these 
valleys the soil does not contain enough alkali to interfere seriously 
with the cultivation of crops. The soils of San Luis and Upper 
Animas valleys and of the greater part of Upper Playas and Hachita 
valleys are practically free from alkali. The distribution of alkali 
is more fully discussed under "Soil in relation to water supplies" 
in the descriptions of the valleys on pages 72-73, 82-83, 97-98, 106, 
117-118, and 124-125. Areas in Lower Animas, Lower Playas, and 
Lordsburg valleys whose soils are strongly alkaline are indicated on 
the map (PI. I). 

PREVENTION OF ACCUMULATION OF ALKALI. 

The first prerequisite for preventing the accumulation of alkali is 
good underdrainage, which depends on the texture of the soil and 
subsoil — whether it is sandy and readily permits water to move 
through it, or clayey and impervious. The caliche subsoils found 
in many parts of the Southwest also interfere seriously with the 
drainage. If drainage within the soil is good the salts added by 
irrigating water are kept moving downward and prevented from con- 
centrating near the surface. The position of the water table is also 
important, for if the ground water is very shallow the salts washed 
down during irrigation will afterward rise with the capillary water 
and be redeposited near the surface. Excessive accumulation of 



48 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

alkali is often due largely to faulty methods of irrigation. Fields 
that are to be irrigated by flooding should be carefully leveled, so 
that the water may spread evenly over the whole surface, for if 
not so leveled the water will seep laterally into the high spots that 
are not covered, and evaporation there will, in the course of time, 
cause rising and excessive accumulation of alkali. The essential 
thing, therefore, is to keep the salts moving downward. Given an 
adequate underdrainage, with all the irrigation water applied to a 
carefully leveled surface, the salts will be leached downward and can 
return to the surface only on evaporation of the soil moisture. In 
this connection the importance of restricting evaporation as much 
as possible may be mentioned. Some of the ways in which this 
can be done are described by^Dorsey, 1 who says: 

Any method of treatment that prevents evaporation necessarily retards the rise 
of the alkali. If evaporation were entirely eliminated there could be no surface 
accumulation of alkali. Unfortunately, however, we can not entirely prevent evapo- 
ration, although we can in a measure control it. Cultivation, mulching with straw 
or leaves, or shading the surface by crops tend to restrict surface evaporation. Fre- 
quent shallow cultivation, by keeping the upper few inches of soil in a loose condition, 
breaks the ascending column of capillary water and thereby reduces the quantity of 
water that can reach the surface. Scattering leaves or straw protects the surface 
from the direct rays of the sun and also reduces evaporation. * * * Frequently, 
in the spring, after the winter rains have washed the alkali a short distance below 
the surface, it is possible to secure a stand of rapid-growing crops that will furnish a 
dense shade by the time hot weather comes on. Many cases are on record where land 
containing appreciable quantities of alkali have been utilized in this manner. The 
shade furnished by the crop checks excessive evaporation, while frequent surface 
irrigations still further operate to drive the alkali into the lower depths of soil. 

On soils that normally contain little alkali the use of the average 
well water of southern Grant County is not likely to cause an excessive 
accumulation of alkali. In other words, troubles due to alkali are not 
likely to be caused by intelligent irrigation in areas where the con- 
ditions do not favor the accumulation of alkali through the natural 
watering by drainage waters. 

Of soils that normally contain large quantities of alkali (occurring 
chiefly in the areas outlined on the map, PL I, and described on 
p. 84) some may be used without treatment for growing crops if pre- 
cautions are taken to prevent a further increase of alkali, whereas 
others require the removal of some of the salts before crops can be 
started. The underlying cause of excessive alkali in these soils is a 
poor underdrainage. They are mostly of the heavy clay type, through 
which water does not penetrate easily, and consequently most of it 
evaporates at or near the surface and causes a dangerous accumula- 
tion of salts there. Though the alkali content of these soils may not 
actually have reached the danger limit, it is likely to do so in a short 

i Dorsey, C. W., Reclamation of alkali soils: U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur, Soils Bull. 34, pp. 13-14, 1906 



soil. 49 

time, even with the use of the best irrigating waters, unless great 
precautions are taken. With care in the preparation of the land, 
the application of the irrigating water, and the selection of crops much 
of this land, even if it contains more alkali than is desirable, can prob- 
ably be farmed with profit. 

The lands that contain so much alkali that crops can not be started 
must undergo some such treatment as is described below. 

TREATMENT OF ALKALI SOILS. 

The first apparent effect of alkali is to retard the germination of the 
seed. Therefore before crops can be started on land containing 
large amounts of alkali it is often necessary to remove part of it pre- 
liminary to planting. ■ Various methods have been proposed for 
freeing soils of alkali. Of these, flushing with flood water is worthy 
of trial on some of the lands of southern Grant County, in one of the 
ways described by Dorsey 1 in the following paragraphs : 

Flushing the surface.— Frequently an attempt is made to free the soil from alkali by 
turning water across a field, holding it on the land for a short time, and then draining it 
off. The principle involved is to allow the water to dissolve the salts in the upper 
part of the soil and on the surface, and then by immediately draining it off to carry the 
dissolved salts away. * * * 

The conditions favorable for this treatment are rather heavy or somewhat imper- 
vious soils, with the alkali largely concentrated at the surface. * * * The alkali, 
largely a surface deposit, will be dissolved and the greater part of the water will be 
drawn off with its dissolved salts. A few flushings may so reduce the quantity of 
alkali that crops can be started, and with the precautions of surface irrigation and 
restricting evaporation by shading the surface or by cultivation the land may be made 
productive. This method, although of somewhat limited application, may result in 
the permanent reclamation of alkali land. 

Flooding without artificial drainage. — Certain definite conditions are necessary 
before this method can be recommended. The most essential points are that the soil 
be naturally well drained and the water table several feet below the surface. Under 
these circumstances the soil may be freed from even excessive quantities of alkalil 
After leveling the field sufficient water is added to cover the surface to a depth of 
several inches. By means of dikes or levees the water is held on the land and must of 
necessity soak through the soil, carrying with it the more readily dissolved salts. 
Repeated flooding finally leaches away the greater part of the alkali and enables the 
land to be cultivated. By care in handling such reclaimed land the chances for a 
second accumulation of salts are slight, provided that the ground water be kept suffi- 
ciently far below the surface. * * * The success or failure of this method depends a 
great deal on choosing just the right time to start the crop. With the surface soil freed 
from alkali even to the depth of a few inches a piece of land may be entirely reclaimed. 
This enables the crop to start, and its growth effectually checks evaporation at the 
surface, while subsequent irrigation tends to reduce still further the alkali content of 
the soil, feorghum has frequently been recommended as a suitable crop to plant on 
and where the quantity of alkali is still considerable. This crop, as has been pointed 
out, is able to withstand not a little alkali and at the same time admits ol* copious 
irrigation. 

J Dorsey, C. W.. Reclamation of alkali soils- U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur. Soils Hull. 34, pp. is L9, 1908. 
16939°— 18— war 422 4 



50 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

. The success of either of these methods depends on adequate drain- 
age, the first method on subsurface drainage and the second on surface 
drainage. Flushing could probably be used successfully on some of 
the lands bordering the alkali flats, into which the wash water could be 
drained, provided the lands are high enough above the flats to give 
sufficient grade. Flood waters might be used for this purpose. 
Where the surface soil is somewhat sandy flooding might prove bene- 
ficial by washing the alkali down into the soil, so that crops could be 
started, after which the underdrainage might be improved suffi- 
ciently by deep cultivation to prevent further accumulation of alkali 
at the surface. 

The application of gypsum or "land plaster" to alkali lands will neu- 
tralize black alkali, but no antidote has yet been found for white alkali. 
The neutralization of black alkali by gypsum can give lasting relief only 
where little or no white alkali is present. As most of the soils of 
southern Grant County that contain an excess of black alkali con- 
tain also considerable white alkali the benefit to be obtained by the 
use of gypsum would l?e small. No gypsum deposits are known in 
this area and the cost of shipping gypsum in from the outside at pre- 
vailing freight rates would be considerable. At the present value of 
land its general use would therefore probably not be warranted, but 
where orchard trees or other valuable plants are threatened with 
black alkali its use could be recommended. 

VEGETATION. 

GENERAL FEATURES. 

The soil, water supply, and climate of the large open valleys and 
plains, where the relief is low and the drainage is imperfect, differ 
so greatly from those of the mountain areas, where the relief is high, 
the topography is rugged, and the drainage is free, as to give distinct 
individuality to the respective floras. The flora of the mountainous 
areas consists principally of forest trees and to a lesser degree of 
plants belonging to the cactus family; the flora of the valleys and 
plains consists chiefly of shrubs and grasses, trees being found only 
along the principal watercourses and singly or in small groups at 
springs and water holes. 

MOUNTAIN AREAS. 

Light growths of forest are found in the Chiricahua National For- 
est, in the southern parts of the Peloncillo and Animas ranges, in 
parts of the Hatchet Eange, and in the Gila National Forest, in the 
Little Burro Mountains. Pines predominate on the summits and 
higher slopes, and junipers, oaks, and cedars are commonly found 
on the lower slopes and on the foothills. Outside of these particular 



VEGETATION. 51 

tracts timber is very scarce. Except for a scattering growth of cedar, 
juniper, and small, stunted pines, the mountain ranges in the central 
and northern parts of the area are almost treeless. On the rocky 
slopes of these ranges there are, however, cacti of various kinds, 
principally the mescal, prickly pear, barrel cactus, and ocotillo. 
Beyond an occasional use of the mescal and prickly pear as a stock 
food, after removal of the spines, and of the ocotillo for making 
rabbit-proof fences around garden patches, these plants serve no 
economic use. The timber is in great demand on the farms in the 
valleys, chiefly for firewood and fence posts. Sheltered canyons and 
slopes of the mountains afford considerable grass, which is valuable 
for the late fall and winter grazing when the range grasses of the 
valleys, which mature earlier, have lost much of their nutritive value. 

VALLEY AND PLAINS. 

The diversified soil, water supply, and conditions of drainage in 
the valleys and on the plains are clearly reflected in the character 
and distribution of the native vegetation. Certain plants will select 
as a habitat areas having a particular set of conditions and will shun 
other areas where conditions are different. Thus, the vegetation 
found on the dense clayey soils of the central valley plains is entirely 
different in type from that found on the gravelly, well-drained soils 
of the upland slopes. The vegetation is thus segregated in more or 
less well-defined zones. In most places, however, soils of different 
classes grade into one another without well-marked boundaries. 
Consequently the floras mingle along the edges of the zones, which 
can be sharply delimited at but few places. 

The segregation of certain plant types in particular localities serves 
to some extent to indicate the physical and chemical conditions of 
the soil and of the water supply and thus helps to determine the 
adaptability of the land for agriculture. 

In the valleys of this region four zones of vegetation can usually 
be recognized. They are, named in order from lower to higher levels, 
(1) the barren zone, (2) the zone of alkali vegetation, (3) the mes- 
quite zone, and (4) the zone of upland grass and brush. 

Barren zone. — The barren zone, indicated on Plate II by parallel 
lining, comprises the alkali flats, or playas, which occupy the lowest 
parts of the valleys. As these playas receive the surplus run-off 
from the surrounding watersheds and have no outlets they are sub- 
ject to periodical flooding and at certain times of the year they be- 
come shallow lakes. By the evaporation of the water the dissolved 
mineral salts and the fine clayey sediments held in suspension are 
deposited to form a dense clayey soil that is almost impervious bo 
water and is heavily impregnated with various soluble salts, known 
collectively as "alkali." Areas subject to such action arc shunned 



52 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

by even the most alkali-resistant plants and are of course worthless 
for agriculture. 

Zone of alkali vegetation. — The favorite habitat of the various alkali 
weeds and grasses is in narrow zones along the edges of the barren 
playas. Among the grasses salt grass (Distichlis spicata) and alkali 
sacaton (Sporobolus airoides) are the dominant species. The edges 
of the flooded areas usually mark the inner limits of this zone, though 
in some places clumps of alkali sacaton grow well out on the flats. 
The outer boundaries of this zone are usually not so well marked, the 
alkali vegetation giving way gradually to the vegetation of the next 
zone. The high alkali content of the soil of this zone makes farming 
on it precarious. 

Mesquite zone. — Mesquite predominates in a zone intermediate 
between the zone of alkali vegetation and that of the upland grass 
and brush, and covers large areas of the central valley plains (PL IV, 
B, and PI. VI, B) . The principal areas of mesquite are outlined on the 
map (PL II), but the plant is by no means confined to these areas, 
for it is one of the most common shrubs in the region. It is found 
associated with the alkali vegetation on the clayey alkaline soils near 
the flats, with the sagebrush on the sand dunes, and with the hardy 
creosote brush on the gravelly slopes. It thrives best, however, on 
soil of intermediate grades, preferring the sandy loams along the 
edges of the central valley plain to the clay soils of the interior or the 
gravelly soils of the higher stream-built slopes. In the most favored 
localities it not uncommonly reaches heights of 12 or 15 feet, but it 
is generally not over 6 or 8 feet high. 

The soils that are most favored by mesquite are usually the soils 
that are best adapted for irrigation, so that this plant is a valuable 
indicator of the physical condition of the soil. Mesquite land is 
hard to clear, and where the growth is heavy much labor is required 
to put it into condition for cultivation, but settlers will find them- 
selves amply repaid in the long run for the extra labor needed to 
obtain a superior quality of soil by selecting land bearing a heavy 
growth of mesquite. It is used extensively for firewood. 

Zone of upland grass and brush. — The most general botanical features 
of the zone of upland grass and brush are indicated by the notations on 
the map (PL II). This zone embraces the higher parts of the central 
valley plains and the stream-built slopes adjacent to the mountains 
and includes many kinds of soil and of drainage, the variety of these 
giving rise to an equally varied distribution of vegetation. Taken 
as a whole it is a complex of brush, grass, and nearly barren areas 
forming a disorderly patchwork. 

The high, gravelly parts of the stream-built slopes are the favorite 
habitat of the familiar creosote bush. On account of the rough sur- 
face, the rocky soil, and the inaccessibility of ground water, farming 



GROUND WATER. 53 

in these areas is usually impracticable. The grasses, of which there 
are numerous species, commonly known collectively as " grama 
grasses," are abundant over large areas of the more nearly level up- 
land plains and of the lower and middle parts of the stream-built 
slopes. In many of the broad, shallow draws and in other areas that 
are occasionally covered by flood waters the grasses form a con- 
tinuous turf, but usually they grow in scattered tufts or bunches. 
The gravelly and well-drained parts of the upland grass areas are 
usually dotted with yuccas. The upland areas contain much good 
land, which could be successfully farmed if water were available to 
augment the rainfall. Ground water is usually too deep in these 
areas to be used economically, but flood waters could in some localities 
be utilized. Eventually these lands may be reclaimed by improved 
methods of dry farming, but at present they do not offer a definite 
prospect of a livelihood to settlers. 

GROUND WATER. 
OCCURRENCE. 

The conditions under which ground water occurs and the prospects 
for irrigation in the valleys of southern Grant County are described in 
detail on pages 69-125. The region contains no permanent streams 
and practically its only certain source of water is underground. The 
rock formations yield little or no water except at a few small mountain 
springs, which are valuable as watering places. Water occurs, how- 
ever, in the gravelly beds of valley fill — generally in the main body of 
the fill but in Upper Animas Valley in gravel recently deposited in 
the trough excavated by Animas Creek out of the main body of fill. 

SOURCE. 

The water in the valley fill comes from precipitation in the region, 
chiefly from rainfall on the mountains that border the valleys, and is 
discharged in freshets on the stream-built slopes, but also from the 
direct precipitation on the slopes and the valley plains. The upper 
parts of the stream-built slopes are generally gravelly and porous and 
allow the water that is shed on them to percolate downward readily. 
The denser fine-grained soils of the central valley plains, on the other 
hand, do not allow the water to penetrate easily and therefore very 
little of the water that is shed on these areas reaches the ground- 
water level. The proportion of the precipitation that is annually 
added to the ground-water supply therefore depends on the porosity 
of the material overlying the water-bearing beds. 

The material composing the stream-built slopes in southern Grant 
County is only moderately porous, but it is believed that at least 5 
per cent of the precipitation of these slopes percolates downward io 



54 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX 



the ground- water level. A part of the rainfall on the mountains is 
lost by evaporation, a part is taken up by vegetation, a part sinks in 
the rock waste on the mountain areas and percolates through this 
waste to the valley fill, and a part sinks into the rock crevices ; but 
from the steep, almost bare desert ranges of southern Grant County 
probably 50 per cent of the precipitation is shed on the stream-built 
slopes of the valleys. A much larger proportion of this water perco- 
lates to the ground-water level than of that which is precipitated 
directly on the stream-built slopes, for the entire volume of the 
mountain drainage is discharged upon the upper porous portions of 
these slopes, whereas a large part of the direct precipitation falls on 
the less porous lower portions. Probably as much as 15 per cent of 
the precipitation on the mountain areas percolates to ground-water 
level. 

On the central valley plains most of the water that is precipitated 
is returned to the atmosphere, either by direct evaporation from the 
surface or through transpiration by plants. In areas having clay 
soils probably none of the water penetrates to the ground-water level, 
but in areas of sandy or gravelly soils some of the rainfall undoubtedly 
reaches the ground- water body. 

HEAD AND ARTESIAN PROSPECTS. 

At a few places the ground water is under pressure so great that it 
comes to the surface in springs (pp. 104-105, 113-114). In one local- 
ity it rises above the ground surface in wells (pp. 114-115), and in 
several wells it rises a few feet above the water table, or upper surface 
of the ground-water body, but it does not rise above the water table 
in most of the wells that have thus far been sunk. The absence of 
appreciable hydrostatic pressure is due principally to the discon- 
tinuity of the water-bearing beds and the absence of an effective 
artesian cover. It may be due also to a low outlet from the under- 
ground reservoirs into the Gila basin, a possibility indicated by a 
decided northward decline of the water table in most of the valleys 
(pp. 70-71,89-91,110-112). 

To the writer's knowledge, the only serious attempt to obtain 
artesian water was made in Playas Valley and resulted in failure 
(p. 115). Many unverified stories are told of artesian flows acci- 
dentally struck by the early cattlemen in drilling wells to obtain 
water for stock, the flow being then deliberately stopped, windmills 
erected, and the water pumped in order to hide the fact from prospec- 
tive settlers, who might dispute a monopoly of the range. At Ojo de 
las Cienegas, in Playas Valley (p. 114), small artesian flows were 
obtained in wells drilled to get water for stock. Instead of trying to 
stop the flow, however, the stockmen facilitated it, and the wells are 
flowing to-day. Although self-interest might have prompted an 



GHOUKD WATER. 55 

occasional cattleman to keep the presence of artesian water secret, 
most of these stories are undoubtedly myths. 

In the Lordsburg, Animas, San Luis, and Playas valleys condi- 
tions in general are believed to be unfavorable for artesian water, 
but the lower part of Hachita Valley is believed to afford a possi- 
bility of obtaining flows from deep wells sunk in the central trough of 
the valley. 

WATER TABLE. 

The water table, or upper surface of the zone of saturation, is 
usually an irregular surface, but the irregularities are less pronounced 
than those of the surface of the land. If sufficient data are obtained 
the water table can be represented on maps by contours that may 
show hills, valleys, and other features characteristic of surface 
topography. 

The data obtained in southern Grant County were not sufficient 
to warrant contouring of the water table with respect to sea level, 
but measurements of depths to water in a large number of wells 
sufficed to show the position of the water table in relation to the 
land surface and to permit the outlining on the map (PI. II, in 
pocket) of the areas with specified depths to water. 

At a number of places where the elevation of the land surface 
was known the elevation of the water table above sea level was 
determined by measuring the depth to water, and these places 
were sufficiently numerous to give a good idea of the general shape 
of the water table. On the whole the water table conforms in gen- 
eral to the land surface. Thus in the troughlike valleys the water 
table also is in the form of a trough whose axis coincides closely 
with that of the valley and whose sides slope upward toward the 
mountain borders. 

On the stream-built slopes, however, the grade of the water table 
is much less than that of the land surface, so that toward the moun- 
tains the land and water surfaces diverge from each other, and the 
depth to water becomes greater. In the principal valleys of south- 
ern Grant County there is a marked decline of the water table in a 
general northerly direction. This condition is discussed more fully 
in the descriptions of the valleys (pp. 69-125). 

The form of the water table is continually readjusting itself to 
changing conditions of supply. If at any particular place the addi- 
tions to the ground-water supply exceed the losses, the water table 
will rise; if the reverse is true it will fall. Additions or with- 
drawals of water at any place not only affect the water table there 
but, owing to its great mobility, may cause it to fluctuate appre- 
ciably at distant points. The chief controlling factor of the fluc- 
tuations of the water table in the valleys of southern Grant County 



56 



GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 



is the rainfall. In the valleys where the water occurs in the main 
body of the valley fill, the fluctuations of the water table are hardly 
noticeable; but in Upper Animas and San Luis valleys, where the 
water is contained in shallow deposits near the surface as perched 
water, the seasonal fluctuations may be great. 

The depth to the water table varies greatly in different parts of 
the area. In a few places in Playas, Upper Animas, and San Luis 
valleys the water table coincides with the surface; in other places 
it lies several hundred feet below the surface. 

SHALLOW-WATER AREAS. 

In about 10 per cent of the area investigated, or approximately 
370 square miles, water may be found at a depth of 100 feet or less. 
This area includes approximately 194 square miles in which the 
depth to water is 50 feet or less. As pumping for the irrigation of 
the ordinary field crops is usually considered feasible where the water 
level is 50 feet or less from the surface, water at that depth is gener- 
ally referred to as shallow water. 

The largest areas in which the ground water stands less than 50 
feet from the surface are in Animas and Playas valleys. In Animas 
Valley there are two shallow-water tracts — one in the depressed 
central part of the lower valley and another smaller one in the 
Animas Creek trough of the upper valley. In Playas Valley a large 
tract in which the depth to water is less than 50 feet occupies the 
central parts of the upper and lower valleys and a small tract of 
shallow perched water is found in the Pot Hook Basin. Small 
shallow-water tracts are also found in the Hachita, Lordsburg, and 
San Luis valleys. (See PI. II, in pocket.) 

The following table gives estimated areas of tracts in which the 
depth to water in the different valleys is 100 feet or less: 



Areas in southern Grant County (not including San Simon Valley a ) in which depth to 
water table is 100 feet or less. 

[Areas in square miles.] 



. Depth to water table (feet). 


Lordsburg Valley. 


Upper Animas 
Valley. 


Lower Animas 
Valley. 


Total 
area. 


Arable 
area.fr 


Total 
area. 


Arable 
area.fr 


Total 
area. 


Arable 
area.fr 






4 

42 
4 

46 






33 


33 


1 20 

20 
20 


20 

( c ) 
20 
20 


( 8 
\ 35 
36 
53 
79 
132 


1 


15 to 25.. .. 


14 


25 to 50 . 


26 


50 to 100 


45 




41 




86 







o For information regarding San Simon Valley see IT. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 425-A. 
fr Areas in which the soil is suitable for general farming; excludes areas covered by lava beds, sand dunes, 
and alkali flats and other areas where the soil contains excessive alkali. 
c Negligible area. 



GROUND WATER. 



57 



Areas in southern Grant County (not including San Simon Valley) in which depth to 
water table is 100 feet or less — Continued. 



[Areas in square miles.] 










San Luis Valley. 


Playas Valley.a 


Hachita Valley. 


Depth to water table (feet). 


Total 
area. 


Arable 
area, b 


Total 
area. 


Arable 
area.6 


Total 
area. 


Arable 
area.b 


Less than 15 


} * 

(d) 

(d) 
c7 
c7 


(d) 
(d) 
c7 

c7 


20 

60 
70 
80 
150 


10 

50 
70 
60 
130 


1 

2 
6 
3 
9 




15 to 25 


1 


25 to 50 


2 


50 to 100 


6 


50 or less 


3 


100 or less .' 


9 







a Including the Pot Hook Basin. 

b Areas in which the soil is suitable for general farming; excludes areas covered by lava beds, sand 
dunes, and alkali flats and other areas where the soil contains excessive alkali, 
c Tested area. The total area may be considerably larger. 
d Negligible area. 

Not all the land in which water is found at shallow depths is 
suitable for farming, for such areas as are covered by lava, sand 
dunes, and alkali flats and areas bordering the flats where the soil 
contains excessive amounts of alkali must be classed as nonarable. 
Exclusive of these areas there are in southern Grant County in the 
valleys described about 130 square miles of arable land in which 
water may be found at a depth of 50 feet or less. 

In tracts aggregating more than 150 square miles of arable land 
the depth to the water table ranges from 50 to 100 feet, and these 
tracts may be considered potentially irrigable. Whether they could 
profitably be reclaimed by pumped water at present is doubtful, but 
constant improvement in the efficiency of pumping machinery sug- 
gests that in time these areas also can be reclaimed. 

QUANTITY OF WATER. 

The quantity of water annually available for irrigation depends 
on the annual contributions to the ground-water supply and on the 
annual losses. With respect to surface drainage the greater part 
of the area is practically isolated. From the Animas, Lower Playas, 
and San Luis basins, comprising almost two-thirds of the total area, 
no surface water escapes, either in perennial streams or in floods. 
From the rest of the area no surface water escapes except a small 
amount in floods. The area is also almost completely isolated against 
influx of ground water from outside areas, but ground water prob- 
ably escapes from Animas, Playas, and Lordsburg valleys into the 
Gila basin and from Hachita Valley into Mexico. 

According to the records of the United States Weather Bureau, the 
average annual precipitation in the valleys of southern Grant County 
is about 10 inches (pp. 36-40). The precipitation in the mountain 
areas probably averages not loss than L2 indies annually. On page 
54 it is roughly estimated that 15 per cent of the precipitation on 



58 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

the mountain areas and 5 per cent of that on the stream-built slopes 
reaches the ground-water reservoirs. According to these assump- 
tions the annual accretions of ground water would aggregate from 
several thousand to several tens of thousands of acre-feet in each of 
the basins investigated. 

Approximately an equal amount must at present be lost from the 
underground reservoirs by leakage, evaporation, or other natural 
processes. A considerable part of the water annually received 
could, however, be recovered by wells and used for irrigation. 

In the Lordsburg, Lower Animas, Playas, and Hachita valleys, 
where the water is found in the main body of valley fill, the storage 
capacity of the underground reservoirs is large, but in Upper Animas 
and San Luis valleys the recoverable water is contained in gravels 
near the surface, the storage capacity is small, and if there were 
heavy pumping for irrigation one exceptionally dry year might 
cause a serious shortage of water. 

QUALITY OF WATER. 
IMPORTANCE OF QUALITY. 

The suitability of a water for a particular purpose depends on the 
kind and amounts of mineral or organic substances that it contains. 
A water that is absolutely worthless for one purpose may be satis- 
factory or even desirable for another. Thus a good irrigating water 
may be a poor drinking water, or vice versa, and a water which 
causes excessive foaming, scale, or corrosion in steam boilers may be 
entirely satisfactory for other industrial uses. In southern Grant 
County, where agricultural development depends largely on irriga- 
tion by water pumped from wells, the quality of the ground water is 
a matter of great importance. 

Samples of water were collected from 60 wells and springs in the 
area and were analyzed by Dr. R. F. Hare, of the New Mexico ex- 
periment station. The results of the analyses and a statement by 
Dr. Hare describing the analytical methods used are given on 
pages 125-143. 

SUBSTANCES DISSOLVED IN WATER. 

Both surface and ground waters take into solution substances 
from the rocks and soil with which they come into contact, the most 
common being silica (Si0 2 ), iron (Fe), aluminum (Al), calcium (Ca), 
magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), and potassium (K), and the car- 
bonate (C0 3 ), bicarbonate (HC0 3 ), sulphate (S0 4 ), chloride (CI), 
and nitrate (N0 3 ) radicles. The gases hydrogen sulphide (H 2 S) 
and free carbon dioxide (C0 2 ) also occur in many ground waters. 
The substances most commonly deposited on evaporation of water 



GROUND WATER. 



59 



in this region are sodium carbonate (Na 2 C0 3 ), sodium bicarbonate 
(NaHC0 3 ), sodium sulphate (Na 2 S0 4 ), sodium chloride (NaCI), 
calcium carbonate (CaC0 3 ), calcium sulphate (CaS0 4 ) and equivalent 
compounds of magnesium. 

CLASSIFICATION OF WATERS WITH RESPECT TO TOTAL DISSOLVED 
SOLIDS AND CHEMICAL TYPE. 

By means of analytical data the waters are classified as to their 
total mineral content and their chemical type and also as to their 
value for irrigation, domestic, and boiler use, the ratings being 
expressed both in figures and in words, according to the schemes 
developed by Stabler * and Dole. 2 

The waters are classified as to the mineral content as follows : 

Rating for total dissolved solids. 



Total dissolved solids 
(parts per million). 


Class. 


More 
than — 


Not more 
than — 




150 

500 

2,000 


Low. 
Moderate. 
High. 
Very high. 


150 

500 
2,000 





The chemical type of the water is expressed by naming the basic 
and acid radicles which are predominant with respect to their reacting 
values. The designation "calcium" (Ca) indicates that calcium and 
magnesium are predominant among the bases, the calcium being more 
abundant than the magnesium. Likewise the designation "sodium" 
(Na) indicates that sodium and potassium are predominant among 
the bases. "Carbonate" (C0 3 ), "sulphate" (SO J, or "chloride" 
(Ci) shows which acid radicle is predominant, the term "carbonate" 
being understood to include both the carbonate and the bicarbonate. 
Combination of the two designations classifies the water by type — 
for example, "sodium-chloride" (Na-Cl), or "calcium-sulphate" 
(Ca-S0 4 ). 



DISTRIBUTION OF WATERS ACCORDING TO TOTAL MINERAL CONTENT 

AND TYPE. 

Among the 60 samples of water analyzed 6 different types are 
represented, and the total solids range from 135 to 6,913 pails per 

1 Stabler, Herman, Some stream waters of tho western United States: U. S. Ceol. Surrey Water-Supply 
Paper 274, 1911. 

8 Mcndenhaii, w. C, Dole, R, i?., and Stabler, Herman, Ground water in Ban Joaquin Valley, Cal.: 
U.S. Qeol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 398, 1916. Deussen, Alexander, and Dole, R. B.« Ground water in 
Lasalloand MoMullen counties, Tex..' CJ. B. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper .'f7, r > (J, 1916. 



60 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

million. The geographic distribution of the waters with respect to 
total mineral content and type is shown in the following table: 

Geographic distribution of the waters according to mineral content and type. 
[Figures indicate number of samples.] 





Total dissolved solids. 


Type. 


Valley. 


Low. 


Mod- 
erate. 


High. 


Very 
high. 


Na-COs. 


Na-S0 4 . 


Na-Cl. 


Ca-C0 3 . 


Ca-S0 4 . 


Mg-C0 3 . 


Upper Animas a 


2 


3 
6 
1 
6 
6 
8 
2 












5 
3 
2 
1 
3 






11 


1 


10 


4 


1 








1 








2 


1 


5 
3 
9 

2 


3 








Upper Playas e 


1 






1 


2 
6 


1 


1 

4 




1 










2 
















4 


32 


21 


3 


29 


12 


1 


16 


1 


1 



a For analyses, see p. 143, Nos. 115, 124, 148, 172, and 175. 

b For analyses, see p. 142, Nos. 40, 41, 42, 45, 57, 59, 60, 61, 62, 68, 76, 80, 83, 85, 87, 90, 102, and 106. 

c For analyses, see p. 143, Nos. 181 and 189. 

d For analyses, see p. 142, Nos. 4, 9, 13, 16, 20, 21, 25, 35, and 37. 

e For analyses, see p. 143, Nos. 273, 294, 297, 303, 306, 312, and 313. 

/For analyses, see p. 143, Nos. 201, 205, 218, 225, 227, 228, 237, 241, 246, 256, and 265. 

g For analyses, see p. 143, Nos. 315, 319, 320, 321, 322, 323, 324, and 325. 

The table shows that moderately mineralized waters are the most 
common, that about one out of every three is highly mineralized, 
and that waters whose mineralization is either low or very high 
are comparatively rare. The waters of the Lower Animas and the 
Hachita valleys are the most highly mineralized and those of the 
San Luis, Upper Animas, and Upper Playas valleys are least miner- 
alized. 

The table shows also that sodium-carbonate waters are the most 
abundant, calcium-carbonate waters are second, sodium-sulphate 
waters are third, and other types are rarely found. Sodium-carbonate 
waters are most prevalent in Lower Animas and Lower Playas valleys, 
which embrace the lower parts of closed drainage basins. Calcium- 
carbonate waters predominate in Upper Animas and Upper Playas 
valleys, which occupy the upper parts of drainage basins. The 
sodium-sulphate waters, all highly mineralized, were found only in 
Lower Animas, Lower Playas, Lordsburg, and Hachita valleys in 
association with other highly mineralized waters. In addition to 
those mentioned above, one of each of three other types of water is 
represented among the analyses. They are a sodium-chloride water 
from Lower Animas Valley, a calcium-sulphate water from the Pot 
Hook Basin in Lower Playas Valley, and a magnesium-carbonate 
water from Upper Playas Valley. 

DISTRIBUTION OF CALCIUM AND MAGNESIUM. 

The waters analyzed range in calcium content from 6.8 to 439 
parts per million, twenty-three containing less than 25 parts per 



GROUND WATER. 61 

million, twenty between 25 and 50, ten between 50 and 100, and 
seven 100 parts per million or more. The waters containing least 
calcium are found chiefly in San Luis Valley, Upper Animas Valley 
south of T. 28 S., E. 19 W., and the Lordsburg Draw. Although 
many of these waters are of the calcium-carbonate type they have a 
low total mineral content and contain less calcium than some of the 
more highly mineralized waters of other types. The waters with 
most calcium are found chiefly in the shallow-water area of Lower 
Animas Valley, north of Playas in Lower Playas Valley, and south 
of Hatchet Gap in Hachita Valley. Most of these waters are highly 
mineralized, and though they contain a large amount of calcium 
the calcium is not the predominating base. 

The magnesium content of the waters analyzed ranges from 2.6 
to 68 parts per million. In all except two of the waters (wells 21 
and 41) it is less than the calcium content. In the water from well 
41, in the northern part of Lower Animas Valley, the magnesium 
slightly exceeds the calcium, and in that from well 21, in the playa 
region of Lordsburg Valley, the magnesium equals the calcium. 
The water from New wells (No. 297) in the Upper Playas Valley 
is also rich in magnesium, and according to the methods of classifica- 
tion employed in this report it is a magnesium-carbonate water. 
The least magnesium is found in the waters from San Luis and 
Upper Animas valleys and in the waters of Lower Animas Valley 
south of the Wamel ranch. The waters of Hachita Valley, the 
upper part of Lordsburg Valley, and Lower Playas Valley north 
of Playas contain the most magnesium. 

DISTRIBUTION OF SODIUM AND POTASSIUM. 

In the analyses the alkali bases, sodium and potassium, were not 
separated, the total amount of the two bases being reported as 
sodium. Therefore wherever the term " sodium' ; is used in the 
discussion it is understood to include potassium. 

In the waters analyzed the sodium ranges from 3.8 to 1,579 parts 
per million. Nine of the waters contain less than 25, eight from 25 
to 50, eighteen from 50 to 100, twenty- three from 100 to 500, and 
two more than 500 parts per million of sodium. As a rule the waters 
from San Luis and Upper Animas valleys contain least and those from 
Lower Animas Valley the greatest quantity of sodium. Most of the 
waters of Lower Playas, Hachita, and Lordsburg valleys also con- 
tain large amounts. As the sodium salts are among the most soluble 
of the substances found in the ground waters they generally pre- 
dominate in the highly mineralizod waters. The distribution of the 
sodium is therefore very similar to that of the total dissolved solids. 



62 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY,. N. MEX. 

DISTRIBUTION OF CARBONATE AND BICARBONATE. 

Carbonates and bicarbonates have been considered together 
because of the readiness with which they are interconverted. In 
the presence of carbon dioxide the carbonate radicle is often changed 
into the bicarbonate, and the reverse process may take place when the 
carbon dioxide is removed. 

The carbonate radicle was found present in seven waters, all of 
which were from the northern part of the Animas drainage basin 
with the exception of No. 241, which is from the Lower Playas 
Valley. It ranges in these seven from 5.7 to 56 parts per million. 

The bicarbonate radicle was reported in all the waters in amounts 
ranging from 21 to 1,125 parts per million. It is found in least 
amount in the waters of San Luis and Upper Animas valleys and in 
greatest amount in those of Lower Animas Valley. In general its 
distribution is similar to that of total dissolved solids and sodium, 
although it varies through a smaller range than either of these. 

DISTRIBUTION OF SULPHATE. 

The amounts of sulphate radicle in the waters analyzed range 
from 4.1 to 4,072 parts per million. As a group the waters from San 
Luis and Upper Animas valleys contain least sulphate, the average 
for the seven samples collected in these valleys being 18 parts, and 
none having more than 25 parts per million. In Upper Playas 
Valley the sulphate content of the waters is generally low. In Lower 
Playas Valley all the waters except those from wells 201 and 205 
contain less than 80 parts per million of the sulphate radicle. The 
water from well 205, in the Pot Hook Basin, is unique, as it is the 
only water analyzed in which calcium and sulphate are found to- 
gether as the predominant radicles. In Lordsburg Valley, in the 
region between Brockman and the alkali flats, the waters are gen- 
erally high in sulphate, whereas in the Lordsburg Draw they con- 
tain only moderate amounts. In Lower Animas Valley the sul- 
phate is very irregularly distributed and ranges between wide 
limits. In general the sulphate content is high. In the northern 
part of the valley the average for a group of three waters (wells 
40, 41, and 42) is 438 parts per million; in the central and southern 
parts the average for 15 waters is 232 parts per million. 

DISTRIBUTION OF CHLORIDE. 

Most of the waters analyzed have a rather low chloride content. 
Out of 60 waters, 49 contain less than 50 parts per million and 39 less 
than 30 parts. Six of the waters contain between 100 and 200 parts 
and three over 200 parts. The lowest amount of chloride reported 
is 5.8 parts and the highest 358 parts per million. With the ex- 



GROUND WATER. 63 

ception of magnesium and the carbonate radicle, the range of the 
chloride is less than that of any of the other constituents determined. 
In 34 of the waters, or over one-half of those analyzed, the chloride 
ranges from 12 to 29 parts per million, both inclusive, a rather 
remarkable uniformity considering the variability in the amounts 
of the other constituents present. 

The waters of San Luis and Upper Animas valleys contain the 
least chloride, the average for seven waters being 12 parts per mil- 
lion. Those of Upper Play as Valley and the adjoining area of 
Lower Play as Valley, as far north as the Whitmire ranch, rank 
next higher, with an average of 17 parts per million for 12 samples. 
In the region near Playas the average is somewhat higher, although 
none of the waters except one (well 201) contains more than 40 
parts per million. The water from the Pot Hook Basin (well 205) 
contains 63 parts per million, which is considerably more than 
the water in the vicinity of Playas. In Hachita Valley the chloride 
content of the waters does not vary much from place to place, all 
the waters except one (well 324) containing less than 50 parts per 
million. In the Lordsburg Valley the waters vary considerably in 
content of chloride from place to place. Well 4, at the Black Moun- 
tain ranch, at the upper end of the valley, and well 37, at Double 
wells, at the opposite end of the valley, yield waters containing 
the least chloride (22 and 20 parts per million, respectively). The 
waters from wells 13 and 20, in the central part of the valley, in the 
vicinity of Koberts, contain the most chloride (126 and 313 parts 
per million, respectively). None of the other waters of the valley 
contain more than 50 parts. 

In Lower Animas Valley the least chloride reported is 5.8 parts 
per million in the water from well 60, in the central part of the valley. 
The most reported was 358 parts, in the water from Hackberry well 
(No. 42), in the northern part of the valley. In a general way there 
is an increase in the chloride content of the waters from south to north. 
In the southern part of the valley, between Animas and Holmig 
wells, the average is about 16 parts per million, not much more than in 
Upper Animas and San Luis valleys, to the south ; in the central part of 
the valley, between Holmig wells and the vicinity of the Southern 
Pacific Kailroad, the average for 12 waters is 57 parts per million; 
in the northern part of the valley the average for a group of three 
waters (wells 40, 41, and 42) is 218 parts per million. 

RELATION OF QUALITY TO DERIVATIVE ROCKS. 

The ground waters of southern Grant County obtain some of the 
mineral matter that they contain directly from the jocks with which 
they come in contact before leaving the mountains, but most of the 
substance that they carry in solution is obtained from the sediments 



64 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

through which they percolate after reaching the valleys. As the 
rocks of the mountains are the original source of the valley sedi- 
ments, a certain relation exists between their character and the com- 
position of the waters.- Igneous rocks contain considerable calcium, 
magnesium, sodium, and potassium, but relatively small amounts 
of chloride or of sulphur, from which sulphate may be derived. 
Many of these waters yield sodium carbonate or " black alkali," 
calcium carbonate, and magnesium carbonate on evaporation. The 
sodium and potassium compounds are more soluble than the com- 
pounds of calcium and magnesium. The potassium appears to be 
held to a great extent by the clay or other residual matter, but 
the sodium goes into solution in the ground waters in relatively 
large amounts. The black alkali character of so many of the waters 
of southern Grant County is probably due to the great abundance 
of igneous rocks. Black alkali was determined in the salts formed 
on evaporation of 35 of the waters analyzed, or approximately 58 
per cent. Waters which yield a residue high in sodium, carbonate, 
and bicarbonate are most abundant in Upper and Lower Playas 
valleys. Six out of seven waters in the former valley, and all in 
the latter valley, yield on evaporation black alkali in the form of 
sodium carbonate. In the Lordsburg, Lower Animas, and Hachita 
valleys the proportions are 7 out of 9, 17 out of 18, and 6 out of 8, 
respectively. None of the waters analyzed from the San Luis and 
Upper Animas valleys yield black alkali in the form of sodium 
carbonate. 

QUALITY FOR IRRIGATION. 

The injurious effects of alkali on vegetation and the ways in which 
it accumulates in the soil under natural conditions have been dis- 
cussed under "Soil" on pages 44-50. Accumulation of alkali may 
take place through the use of irrigating waters by essentially the 
same processes as under natural conditions. The danger of accumu- 
lation of alkali through the use of irrigating water in a region depends 
largely on local conditions of drainage, climate, soil texture, distance 
to water level, and irrigation methods employed. A certain water 
may have been used for many years without injury to crops in one 
region, whereas in another region, where different conditions prevail, 
water of similar character, or water containing much less alkali, may 
render the soil unproductive in a short time. On account of the 
varying conditions, therefore, no hard and fast rule can be formu- 
lated for the amount of alkali permissible in an irrigating water. 

Formulas developed by Stabler * for the classification of irrigating 
waters are based upon the relative toxicity toward plants of the 
different forms of alkali commonly present in water. The alkali 

i Stabler, Herman, Some stream waters of the western United States: U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply 
Paper 274, pp. 177-179, 1911, 



GROUND WATER. 65 

coefficient (k) is defined- as the depth in inches of water which, upon 
evaporation, would yield sufficient alkali to render a 4-foot depth of 
soil injurious to the most sensitive crops. The larger this coefficient 
the better the water for irrigation. The alkali coefficient is not an 
absolute index of the value of the water for irrigation under all con- 
ditions but affords a useful basis for comparing the irrigating value 
of different waters. Whether the application of a water to a par- 
ticular piece of land would actually result in injury depends, however, 
on the methods of irrigating, the crops grown, the character of the 
soil, and the conditions of drainage, and it must be understood that 
the alkali coefficient in no way takes account of such conditions. 

The alkali coefficient (k) used in the table of analyses (pp. 142-143) 
has been calculated by the following formulas : 

2040 

(a) If Na— 0.65 CI is zero or negative, h=-^-- 

(b) If Na— 0.65 CI is positive but not greater than 0.48 S0 4 , ^= ^ a , 2 q q± 

fifi9 

(c) If Na-0.65 Cl-0.48 S0 4 is positive, ^ = Na _ 0>32 Q1-0.4S SO ' 

The symbols Na, CI, and S0 4 in the above formulas represent, re- 
spectively, sodium, chloride, and the sulphate radicle in the water, 
expressed in parts per million. The sodium and potassium are re- 
ported together as sodium. Waters to which formulas (a) and (b) 
are applicable can not be improved by chemical treatment but are 
likely to produce only " white alkali" in the soil. Waters to which 
formula (c) is applicable are likely to produce the more injurious 
" black alkali" in the soil but can be improved by the use of gypsum, 
or "land plaster." 

The following classification, based on ordinary irrigation practice 
in the United States, expresses the comparative value of waters with 
different alkali coefficients: 

Classification of irrigation waters. 



Alkali coefficient, h.a 


Class. 


Remarks. 


More than 18 


Good 

Fair 

Poor 

Bad 


Have been used successfully for many years without special caro 

to prevent alkali accumulation. 
Special care to prevent gradual alkali accumulation has generally 

been found necessary except on loose soils with free drainage. 
Care in selection of soils has been found to be imperative and arti- 
. ficial drainage has frequently been found necossary. 
Practically valueless for irrigation. 


18 to 6 


5.9 to 1.2 


Less than 1.2 







a 7c=depth in inches of water which upon evaporation would yield su(Ticiont alkali to render a 4-foot 
depth of soil injurious to the most sensitive crops. 

According to the above classification 32 of the waters analyzed 
are good for irrigation, 23 are fair, and 5 are poor. (See table on pp» 
142-143.) In Upper Animas and San Luis valleys all the waters 
analyzed are good; in Upper Playas and Hachita valleys all are either 

16939°— 18— wsi» 422 5 



66 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

good or fair, with the good waters predominating; and in Lower 
Animas, Lordsburg, and Lower Playas valleys all three classes are 
represented. Two out of 18 waters from the Lower Animas Valley 
are classed as poor for irrigation. In Lordsburg Valley only 1 out of 
9 and in Lower Playas Valley only 1 out of 11 waters analyzed are of 
poor quality for irrigation. It is encouraging to note that wherever a 
poor water is found it is the exceptional water in that particular area 
and that almost invariably satisfactory irrigating waters may be 
found in other wells close by. 

QUALITY FOR DOMESTIC USE. 

To be entirely satisfactory for domestic use water should be pleas- 
ant to the taste and have no perceptible odor, should be free from 
suspended matter, color, and disease-producing bacteria, and should 
contain a minimum of substances which cause hardness or excessive 
consumption of soap. Dole x makes the following summary state- 
ments in regard to the mineral content of water for domestic use: 

Waters that do not exceed 200 parts per million in total hardness and do not contain 
enough mineral matter to have a disagreeable taste are acceptable for drinking and 
cooking, though some of them might not answer all requirements of a good municipal 
supply. Hardness greater than 1,500 parts renders water undesirable for cooking, 
and water much softer than that consumes excessive quantities of soap in washing. 
Approximately 250 parts per million of chloride makes a water taste slightly salty. 
Somewhat less of the carbonate and somewhat more of the sulphate are detectable by 
taste, yet though the lower a water is in mineral content the more acceptable it is 
as a source of domestic supply, the amount of dissolved substances that can be tolerated 
is much greater than is ordinarily believed. Alkaline carbonates apparently are most 
injurious, alkaline sulphates are least injurious, and alkaline chlorides occupy an 
intermediate position. Drinking water containing more than 300 parts per million 
of carbonate, 1,500 parts of chloride, or 2,000 parts of sulphate is unhealthful to most 
people. * * * The most obvious effect of drinking water too high in mineral 
content is usually diarrhea. 

Every housewife knows the meaning of hardness of water in the 
popular sense. Hard water causes scale in tea kettles, boilers, and 
hot-water pipes. It is due chiefly to calcium and magnesium, which 
cause excessive consumption of soap by the formation with the soap 
of insoluble compounds that have no cleansing value. Technically, 
hardness is usually expressed by a figure which represents the calcium 
(Ca) and magnesium (Mg) in the equivalent of calcium carbonate 
(CaC0 3 ). It may be computed by the following formula: 

Total hardness as CaC0 3 = 2.5 Ca + 4.1 Mg 

Of the 60 waters analyzed 34 are classed as good for domestic use, 
17 as fair, 5 as bad, and 4 as unfit. (See pp. 142-143.) In Upper 
Animas, San Luis, and Upper Playas valleys all the waters are good. 
In the other valleys most of the waters are good, although poor waters 

i Deussen, Alexander, and Dole, R. B., Ground water in Lasalle and McMullen counties, Tex.: U. S, 
Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 375, p. 159, 1916. 



GROUND WATER. 67 

are occasionally found. Lower Animas Valley contains the largest 
proportion of waters that are not satisfactory for domestic use. 
Out of 18 waters analyzed 2 are classed as bad and 2 as unfit, 
chiefly on account of their unsuit ability for drinking. They contain 
large amounts of sodium and of the carbonate, sulphate, or chloride 
radicles, which give them a bad taste and may make them unhealth- 
ful to some people. One of the waters from Lordsburg Valley and 
one from Hachita Valley are classed as bad. In the Lower Playas 
Valley one is classed as bad and one as unfit. These waters are not 
good for drinking on account of excessive amounts of sodium salts 
present and not good for cooking and washing on account of their 
hardness. Poor domestic waters appear to be general in the region of 
deep water north of the alkali flats in Lower Animas Valley. On the 
whole, the waters throughout southern Grant County are, however, 
satisfactory for domestic use. 

QUALITY FOR BOILER USE. 

Certain mineral substances in natural waters cause excessive 
foaming, scale, or corrosion in boilers and therefore are objectionable 
when the water is used for making steam. 

When water is heated and concentrated in boilers much of the 
dissolved matter is precipitated on the inside of the boiler as sludge 
or scale that increases the consumption of fuel, decreases the capacity 
of the boiler by clogging the tubes and steam pipes, and injures the 
boiler by allowing the plates and tubes to become overheated until 
they crack or burst. The sludge that collects on the bottom of the 
boiler can usually be removed by " blowing off," but the hard scale 
that clings to the inside surfaces must be removed by more expensive 
methods. Scale and sludge consist of the suspended matter and 
compounds of silica, iron, aluminum, calcium, and magnesium, the 
last two usually predominating, the calcium in the form of the sul- 
phate and carbonate and the magnesium as the oxide or carbonate. 

Foaming is caused by the formation of steam bubbles which do 
not break readily and interfere with the collection of the steam in the 
steam spaces and cause water to be carried out through the steam 
supply pipe to the engine cylinders. Many substances probably 
cause foaming, but as compounds of sodium and potassium remain 
dissolved in the boiler water after most other substances are pre- 
cipitated the foaming tendency is usually measured by the amount 
of sodium and potassium in the water. 

Substances that attack iron cause corrosion or "pitting" in boilers. 
Many ground waters contain hydrogen sulphide, free oxygen, carbon 
dioxide, or acids formed from organic matter, or freed to the boiler 
by the formation of hydrates of aluminum, iron, and magnesium. 
The acids formed during the precipitation of any of these substances 
may cause corrosion in boilers. 



68 



GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 



The following formulas adopted by Dole * from those developed 
by Stabler 2 have been used for computing the probable scale-forming 
ingredients (s), the probable foaming ingredients (/) (both in parts 
per million), and the tendency to cause corrosion (c). If silica 
(Si0 2 ) is not reported the value 30 may be arbitrarily used for it in 
the first formula. 

s = Si0 2 + 2.95 Ca+1.66Mg 

/=2.7 (Na + K) 

If 0.0828 Mg- 0.0336 C0 3 - 0.0165 HC0 3 is positive, the water is 
corrosive (C). If 0.0828 Mg + 0.0503 Ca- 0.0336 C0 3 - 0.0165 HC0 3 
is negative, no corrosion will occur because of the mineral constituents 
of the water (N). If 0.0828 Mg-0.0336 CO 3 -0.0165 HC0 3 is 
negative but 0.0828 Mg + 0.0503 Ca- 0.0336 C0 8 - 0.0165 HC0 3 is 
positive, corrosion may or may not occur (?). 

In these formulas Si0 2 , Ca, Mg, Na, K, C0 3 , and HC0 3 represent, 
respectively, the amounts in parts per million of silica, calcium, mag- 
nesium, sodium, potassium, carbonate, and bicarbonate as deter- 
mined by analysis. 

The value of waters for boiler use in respect to their scale-forming, 
corroding, and foaming constituents may be expressed as follows: 

Ratings of waters for boiler use according to proportions of incrusting and corroding con- 
stituents and according to foaming constituent!. 



Incrusting and corroding con- 
stituents. 


Foaming constituents. 


Parts per million. 


Classifica- 
tion.a 


Parts per million. 


Classifica- 
tion.b 


More 
than — 


Not more 
than — 


More 
than — 


Nut more 
than — 




90 
200 
430 


Good. 
Fair. 
Poor. 
Bad. 


i50" 

250 
400 


150 
250 
400 


Good. 

Fair. 
Bad. 
Very bad. 


90 
200 
430 







a Adapted from Am. Ry. Eng. and Maintenance of Way Assoc. Proc, vol. 5, p. 595, 1904. 
b Idem, vol. 9, p. 134, 1908. 

Of the waters analyzed 5 have been classed as good for boiler use, 
21 as fair, 20 as poor, 2 as bad, and 12 as very bad. Ov.er four-fifths 
of the waters classed as poor or bad are objectionable chiefly on 
account of their strong tendency to foam. They include most of the 
highly mineralized alkaline waters of the Lower Animas, Lower 
Playas, Hachita, and Lordsburg valleys. Almost all of the waters 
analyzed will form some scale in boilers, for which treatment, either 
preliminary or in the boiler, is desirable, although not imperative, in 

1 Deussen, Alexander, and Dole, R. B., Ground water in Lasallo and McMullen counties, Tex.: U. S. 
Qcol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 375-G, pp. 163-164, 1916. 

2 Stabler, Herman, Some stream waters of tho western United States: U. S. Gcol. Survey VW cr-Supply 
Paper 274, pp. 171-177, 1911. 



LORDSBURG VALLEY. 



69 



most cases. None of the waters except one from well 40 in the Lower 
Animas Valley are definitely corrosive, but there is a possibility of 
corrosion by the calcium carbonate waters and a few of other types. 

DISTRIBUTION ACCORDING TO QUALITY. 

The geographic distribution of the waters, graded as to their 
relative value for different purposes, according to the ratings given 
on preceding pages is shown in the following table : 

Geographic distribution of the waters according to quality for irrigation, domestic, and 

boiler use. 

[Figures indicate number of samples.] 





Irrigation. 


Domestic use. 


Boiler use. 


Valley. 


Good. 


Fair. 


Poor. 


Good. 


Fair. 


Bad. 


Unfit. 


Good. 


Fair. 


Poor. 


Bad. 


Very 
bad. 


Lordsburg 

Upper Animas . 
Lower Animas . 


1 

5 
10 
2 
5 
4 
5 


7 


1 


6 
5 

4 
2 
7 
9 
1 


1 


1 


1 


2 

2 

1 


3 
3 
3 


4 




2 


4 


4 


10 


2 


2 


6 


1 


8 


Upper Playas . . 
Lower Playas . . 
Hachita 


2 
6 
3 


i* 








5 
6 
1 


1 
3 
6 






6" 


i 

1 


1 


1 


1 
1 












32 


22 


6 


34 


17 


5 


4 


5 


21 


20 


2 12 



The ratings of the individual waters with respect to their suit- 
ability for these purposes are included in the table of analyses given 
on pages 142-143. A discussion of the waters is also given in the 
tions of the different valleys. 



DESCRIPTIONS BY AREAS. 

LORDSBURG VALLEY. 
PHYSIOGRAPHY AND DRAINAGE. 

Lordsburg Valley extends from the Pyramid Range to the divide 
near the Luna County line, and from the Little Burro Mountains to 
the Quartzite Hills and Black Mountain. (See map, PL I, in pocket.) 
It is drained northwestward into Lower Animas Valley. To the east 
Lordsburg Valley opens, without any visible barrier, into the great 
upland plains of Luna County known as the Antelope Plains, and to 
the south it opens into Playas and Hachita valleys, from which, how- 
ever, it is separated by low alluvial divides. Where the Southern 
Pacific Railroad crosses the Antelope Plains divide the elevation is 
4,587 feet; in the depression 4 miles southeast of Lordsburg it is 
about 4,200 feet. The general' slope of the valley is northwestward, 
and the major drainage line parallels the Arizona & New Mexico 
Railway from Black Mountain to the vicinity of Lordsburg. Except 
on the upper parts of the alluvial slopes of the Pyramid Range and 



70 



GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 



Little Burro Mountains the drainage is sluggish, the flood waters in 
general spreading in thin sheets over the nearly level plain or passing 
down the shallow draws into the depression a few miles southeast of 
Lordsburg. This depression is occupied by three small playas, 
which in the rainy season hold a part of the flood waters but in the 
dry season are barren alkali flats. They cover an aggregate area of 
about a square mile. The overflow from these playas drains through 
the Lordsburg Draw, around the north end of the Pyramid Range, 
into the large play a in Lower Animas Valley. 

WATER TABLE. 

In an area comprising about 46 square miles, including and con- 
tiguous to the Lordsburg Draw and the alkali flats southeast of 
Lordsburg, the depth to water is less than 100 feet. (See PI. II, 
in pocket.) Throughout the rest of the area the depth to water in 
wells ranges from 100 to at least 300 feet. At Brockman, on the 
Arizona & New Mexico Railway, it is 130 feet; at the Black Mountain 
ranch, 227 feet; at Wilna, on the Southern Pacific Railroad, 188 feet; 
and at Separ, 300 feet. 

The following tables show the altitude and depth of the water table 
at several points in the area, and the gradients of water table and land 
surface between these points : 

Depth to water table and elevation of land surface and water table at points in Lordsburg 

Valley. 



Locality. 





Elevation 


Depth to 


of land 


water 


surface 


table. 


above sea 




level. 


Feet. 


Feet. 


300 


4,505 


130 


4,322 


80 


4,253 


a 60 


b 4, 220 



Elevation 
of water 

table 

above sea 

level. 



Separ 

Brockman 

Roberts 

Southern Pacific pumping plant, 2 miles east of Lordsburg. 



Feet. 
4,205 
4,192 
4,173 
4,160 



a Information from pump man. Water stood 82 feet from surface in this well when first drilled. 
b Close approximation. 

Gradient? of the surface and of the water table between points in Lordsburg Valley. 



Separ to Southern Pacific pumping plant, 2 miles 

cast of Lordsburg 

Separ to Brockman 

Brockman to Roberts 

Roberts to Southern Pacific pumping plant 

Separ to Roberts 



Horizon- 
tal dis- 
tance. 



Miles. 
17 

6J 
10 

8 
11 



Land surface. 



Differ- 
ence in 
elevation. 



Feet. 
2S5 
183 
69 
33 
252 



Gradient. 



Feet per 
mite. 

17 

28 
6.9 
4.3 

23 



Water table. 



Differ- 
ence in 
elevation, 



Feet. 



Gradient. 



Feet per 
mile. 
2.6 
2.0 
1.9 
1.6 
2.0 



LOKDSBUE/G VALLEY. 71 

In general the slope of the water table is toward the northwest, 
in the direction of the slope of the land surface. The slope is, how- 
ever, only about 2 feet to the mile, or considerably less than that of 
the land surface, and consequently the depth to water increases up 
the slopes. The uniformity of the ground-water gradient makes it 
possible to predict with a fair degree of accuracy the depth to water at 
points intervening between those at which the elevations of the land 
and water surfaces are known. The slope of the water table north- 
ward indicates that there is a movement of ground water in that 
direction, possibly to an outlet into the Gila basin. 

WATER-BEARING BEDS. 

Underlying the valley is the usual succession of material of all 
degrees of fineness, ranging from fine clays to coarse gravels. The 
character and arrangement of the materials are shown by the 
plotted well logs in Plate V. Some of the beds consist of well- 
assorted materials whose particles are nearly all of uniform size; 
others are mixtures of particles of various sizes. Logs of all the wells 
except the Southern Pacific Co. ; s abandoned well at Lordsburg and 
the railroad well at Separ show gravel as a common constituent of 
nearly all beds. The abandoned well at. Lordsburg passes through 
several hundred feet of rock and the material penetrated by the Separ 
well contained a preponderance of clay below about 300 feet. Most 
of the materials are unconsolidated, although " cemented" gravel or 
sand is often reported. 

Beds of unconsolidated sands and gravels that yield water freely 
occur at a number of horizons. The deep railroad well at Spear 
penetrates nine such beds, from 2 to 10 feet thick, five of which 
are below the 300-foot water level and are saturated, the other four 
being above this level and therefore dry. The "west" well at the 
Southern Pacific pumping plant east of Lordsburg passes through 
four beds from 10 to 13 feet thick, three of which are below the 
82-foot water level and are saturated. In well "No. 3" at the same 
place a 60-foot stratum of saturated sand and gravel is reported to 
lie between the 110-foot and 170-foot levels and a 10-foot stratum 
of saturated sand and gravel to lie between the 285-foot and 
295-foot levels. The Coom well (No. 25, PL V), in the Lordsburg 
Draw east of town, penetrates three porous strata, from 3 to 8 feet 
thick, below the water level. 

QUALITY OF WATER. 

Analyses of waters in the Lordsburg Valley from wells 4, 0, 13, 
16, 20, 21, 25, 35, and 37 (PL II and Table 2) showed total solids 
ranging from 236 to 2,059 parts per million. Three of (ho waters 
(wells 9, 13, and 20) are highly mineralized sodium-sulphate waters, 



72 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

five (wells 16, 21, 25, 35, and 37) are moderately mineralized sodium- 
carbonate waters, and one (well 4) is of the calcium-carbonate type. 

No very definite conclusions as to the geographic distribution of the 
different types of water are warranted. In a general way, however, the 
analyses show that along the major drainage axis of the region, 
near which most of the wells are situated, sodium-carbonate waters 
predominate in the Lordsburg Draw, sodium-sulphate waters in the 
region between the alkali flats at the head of the Lordsburg Draw 
and Brockman, and calcium-carbonate waters probably in the region 
between Brockman and Black Mountain. 

For irrigation one of the waters has been classed as good, seven 
as fair, and one as poor. The best irrigating water is yielded by 
well 4 in the upper part of the valley, and the poorest by well 20, 
2 miles north of Koberts. Wells 9, 13, 16, 21, 25, 35, and 37 yield 
fair irrigating waters. All these waters can probably be safely used, 
for irrigation on the land in the immediate vicinity of the wells from 
which they are taken. On some of the poorly drained land in the 
vicinity of the alkali flats, where natural conditions have caused the 
accumulation of considerable alkali in the soil, waters of this charac- 
ter might cause serious trouble. In the Lordsburg Draw, below, 
where the drainage is better, these waters if used intelligently would 
probably not cause injury to crops. 

For domestic use all the sodium-carbonate waters and the cal- 
cium-carbonate waters have been classed as good. The sodium- 
sulphate waters are less acceptable on account of their hardness and 
taste. Water from well 9 is classed as fair, that from well 13 as 
bad, and that from well 20 as unfit. 

For use in boilers the water from wells 4, 35, and 37 is classed as 
fair. The first, a calcium-carbonate water, has no tendency to 
foam but contains a moderate amount of scale-forming constituents 
and may cause corrosion in boilers. The last two are sodium-car- 
bonate waters low in scale-forming substance and are noncorrosive, 
but they may cause some foaming. The waters from wells 16, 21, 
and 25, classed as poor for boiler use, are sodium-carbonate waters 
low in scale-forming substances and noncorrosive but have a ten- 
dency to foam. The sodium-sulphate waters from wells 9, 13, and 20 
are high in both scale-forming and foaming constituents and there- 
fore are unsatisfactory for boiler use. That from well 13 may also 
cause corrosion. The first two waters can be used after proper 
chemical treatment, but the water from well 20 contains so much 
mineral matter that effective treatment is not possible 

SOIL IN RELATION TO WATER SUPPLIES. 

In the playa region southeast of Lordsburg and in the Lordsburg 
Draw which drains westward into the south alkali flat of Lower Animas 



Well No 25 



Abandoned S.P R.R. well S P. R. R West well at East 

at Lordsburg. 32 teet lordsburg pumping station. 

1 engineer's 33. 2feetnorthof engineer's 

35.747 + 915 stalion 35.853 +237 



! v i- mi k |22 PI vn 

1 S. P. R.R. well No. 1 

8 at Stoat 

(No 5 on Plate II) 



No 22 on Plate I 




SI CTIONS OF WELLS IIS LORD8BI n 



LORDSBURG VALLEY. 73 

Valley the soils are of the fine-textured type derived from sand, clay, 
and silt. The small barren flats south of the Southern Pacific 
Railroad, which are frequently flooded and on the surface of which 
water stands until it evaporates, have the characteristic heavy clay 
soils produced under these conditions. Similar soils occur in places 
along the center of the Lordsburg Draw. On the plains north and 
east of the Lordsburg Draw the soils are in general sandy. Along 
the foot of the Burro Mountains is a broad belt of coarse gravelly 
soil, and a belt of similar soil extends along the base of the Pyramid 
Range. 

Samples of soil were taken at a number of places in the area where 
the ground water is shallowest. (See map, PL I.) Soils containing 
injurious amounts of alkali are practically confined to the principal 
drainage line below the vicinity of Roberts station in the area out- 
lined on the map (PL I). Samples 4, 6, and 14 were taken nearest 
the axis of the principal drainage. They contain respectively 
0.87, 0.63, and 1.26 per cent of total alkali and 09, 0.19, and 0.04 
per cent of black alkali. Of these, sample 6, taken in. the barren 
flat nearest the Southern Pacific Railroad, is probably the worst 
on account of the large proportion of black alkali, although it con- 
tains less total alkali than either of the others. Sample 14, which 
contains the largest amount of total alkali, represents a less objec- 
tionable soil because the black alkali content is low and almost half 
of the total alkali consists of sodium sulphate, one of the least harm- 
ful of the white alkalies. 

Back from the center of the draw the content of alkali steadily 
decreases. Sample 2, taken 1J miles northeast of Lordsburg, on the 
north slope of the draw, about half a mile from its axis, contains only 
0.29 per cent of total alkali, only one-fifth of which is black alkali. 
Sample 5, taken from a similar position relative to the drainage 
axis farther south, contains a little more total alkali (0.40 per cent) 
but a negligible quantity of black alkali. The alkali content of soils 
of this character should not interfere with the successful growing of 
all ordinary crops. 

PUMPING PLANTS AND YIELDS OF WELLS. 

The yield of wells in this region has usually been found sufficient 
for the particular needs for which the supplies were intended. Most 
of the wells are at ranches and cattle-watering places where the 
amounts required are so small that they can bo furnished by wind- 
mills, but a number of wells have been sunk for railroad and town 
supplies. 

In 1913 all water needed for municipal and railroad uses at Lords- 
burg was furnished by the Southern Pacific pumping plant, which is 



74 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

2 miles east of the town. According to the pump man in charge an 
average of about 250,000 gallons a day was pumped. The water is 
lifted by steam pumps from a group of four wells about 300 feet deep. 
When running at full capacity the plant has an output of 18,000 gallons 
an hour, and this rate of pumping can be maintained continuously 
for at least 24 hours without exhausting the wells. Some data in 
regard to the capacity of the wells is given on the well-log sheet 
kindly furnished to the Geological Survey by Mr. K. D. Matthews, 
the resident engineer at Tucson, Ariz. A test on the well designated 
as the "West well" at East Lordsburg, made in October, 1897, 
showed a capacity of 2,000 gallons an hour from the 116-foot water 
stratum. When pumping from the 316-foot level near the bottom of 
of the well 6,000 gallons an hour was obtained. During a test made 
in March, 1903, the well designated "well No. 3," at the same place, 
yielded 5,280 gallons an hour for 36 consecutive hours. Another well 
owned by the railroad company, situated in the town of Lordsburg 
and drilled most of the way through "rock" (see PL V), failed in 
four different tests to yield sufficient water and was therefore aban- 
doned. At Separ the railroad company has two wells more than 
600 feet deep. (For log of well see "No 1," PL V.) These wells, 
spaced 25 feet apart, are said to yield regularly about 4,000 gallons 
an hour for a period of 8 to 14 hours a day. 

At Brockman, about midway between Lordsburg and Hachita, the 
Arizona & New Mexico Railway Co. has a 6-inch well 152 feet deep 
and a pumping plant consisting of a gasoline engine and a plunger 
pump. This well supplies about 28,000 gallons in the 10 hours that 
it is pumped each day. 

In the Lordsburg Draw, NE. \ sec. 34, T. 22 S., R. 18 W. (No. 25, 
PL II), Mr. Frank R. Coom has installed a pumping plant for irriga- 
tion. It consists of a 20-inch well 192 feet deep (for log of well see 
PL V), equipped with an American Well Works 2-stage vertical tur- 
bine pump driven by a direct-connected 20-horsepower electric motor. 
The pump is set 85 feet below the surface, 14 feet below the normal 
water level, and is said by the owner to deliver from 150 to 200 gallons 
a minute. When pumping at a normal speed the vacuum gage 
attached to the pump ordinarily registers a vacuum of 21 inches, 
which is equivalent to a suction head of about 24 feet. This indicates 
that the pump is working under a total theoretical head of 85 feet 
(distance pump is set below surface) plus 24 feet, or 109 feet, and that 
the drawdown is 38 feet. Apparently the over-all efficiency of the 
plant is only about 25 per cent. At 4,200 feet, which is the approxi- 
mate elevation of the well, the practical suction lift 1 in good practice 
should not exceed 18 feet, or 16 inches of vacuum. The efficiency 

i Practical suction lift is equal to the vertical distance the water is to be lifted by suction plus the 
head due to friction. 



TJPPEB ANIMAS VALLEY. 75 

of the plant could therefore probably be increased by lowering the 
pump in the well. 

One mile north of Lordsburg in the draw (No. 30, PI. II), the 
Lordsburg Water, Ice & Electric Co. has installed a pumping plant 
from which it is intended to supply the town. This plant consists of 
a 5-stage American Well Works turbine pump direct-connected to a 
35-horsepower electric motor. The capacity of the plant when work- 
ing under the several hundred feet of head necessary to force the water 
to the town reservoir is about 300 gallons a minute. The well is about 
190 feet deep and the water stands 65 feet from the surface. It is 
cased with 20-inch casing to the 115-foot level and with 12-inch casing 
below. There are two well-defined strata of water-bearing gravel, one 
90 feet below the surface and one 180 feet below. 

UPPER ANIMAS VALLEY. 
PHYSIOGRAPHY AND DRAINAGE. 

Upper Animas Valley is a long, comparatively narrow valley 
trending nearly due north and south between continuous parallel 
ranges of mountains — the Peloncillo Kange on the west and the 
Animas Kange on the east. It extends from a low alluvial divide, 
9 miles north of the Mexican border, to the vicinity of Animas station, 
on the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad. Its length measured be- 
tween these limits is about 33 miles and its average width, between 
the bases of the bounding ranges, about 8§ miles. It drains northward 
into Lower Animas Valley. 

Upper Animas Valley differs from all the other valleys in the area 
except Lower Hachita Valley in that both the central and lateral 
drainage lines follow definite channels cut into the valley fill. 

The principal drainage is northward along the axis of the valley 
through Animas Creek. On the east side the lateral tributary drain- 
age is generally from the southeast, and that on the west side from 
the southwest, or along the slope which is the resultant of two com- 
ponent slopes, one in the direction of the principal drainage — north — 
and the other in the direction of the alluvial slopes — east and west 
toward the center of the valley and at right angles to the principal 
drainage. 

Animas Creek rises in several branches on the east flank of the Pelon- 
cillo Range, flows eastward across the valley for 4 miles, and then makes 
a bend at right angles to the north. It follows a definite channel, 
meandering from side to side across the floor of the flat, for 20 miles 
below its source and disappears 2, miles north of the XT ranch. The 
flow in Animas Creek depends entirely on the seasonal distribution 
of the rainfall. During the rainy season a small permanent stream 
is maintained for most; of the distanoe along fche first L5 miles of its 
course in the valley, the water disappearing occasionally below fche 



76 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

gravels for short distances and reappearing as a surface flow farther 
downstream. Like other streams of the arid region, it is subject to 
very rapid fluctuations, often reaching torrential proportions and 
overflowing its banks during violent rainstorms and subsiding quickly 
when the storm is over. In parts of its course, as in the hills before it 
emerges into the valley (see map, PL I), the surface flow is permanent 
nearly the whole year. Between the Gray ranch and "The Box" 
flow is maintained by two groups of springs or "cienegas"— one at 
the Gray ranch and the other near the mouth of Clanton Creek. 

The principal tributaries of Animas Creek are Kough, Bull, Adobe, 
and Indian creeks on the east side, and Clanton, Whitmire, and 
Prairie creeks, Horse Camp Draw, and a number of equally large 
watercourses on the west side. Some of these tributaries are fed by 
springs near their sources and maintain small permanent flows over 
their bedrock channels in the mountains and for short distances out 
in the valley, but the middle and lower courses of all are dry except 
during short periods of heavy rainfall or the rapid thawing of snow, 
which sometimes accumulates on the higher crests of the ranges. 
Evidently there is some underflow through the gravels of these water- 
courses for considerable distances out from the mountains, because 
the dry channels are often fringed with cottonwoods and other trees 
that do not thrive unless well supplied with water. 

The most distinctive feature of Upper Animas Valley is the trough 
which has been cut along the longitudinal axis of the valley by Animas 
Creek. Where Animas Creek emerges from the mountains the trough 
is about a quarter of a mile wide; it gradually widens down the valley 
toward the north to about 1J miles at its mouth, 4 \ miles south of 
Animas station. The bottom of the trough is flat and is bordered by 
bluffs on both sides. These bluffs are 70 to 80 feet high along the 
upper end of the valley but diminish downstream until they dis- 
appear at the lower end of the trough where it merges into the broad 
plain of Lower Animas Valley. At "The Box," 3 miles north of the 
Gray ranch, the trough has been channeled out of hard coarse-grained 
porphyritic rock, and forms a gorge a quarter of a mile long and 75 to 
100 feet wide, with vertical rock walls 20 to 25 feet high. Five miles 
farther north the front of a rock spur extending out from the Pelon- 
cillo Range forms the west bluff for a distance of about a mile. 
Except at these two places the trough has been channeled entirely out 
of valley sediments, and the bluffs represent the truncated ends of 
stream-built slopes leading from the mountains (PI. IX, B, p. 114). 

Through gashes in the bluffs on both sides numerous dry stream- 
ways enter the Animas Creek trough. In the larger streamways head- 
end erosion has proceeded several miles up from the trough. The 
result of these processes is an extensive dissection of the whole valley 
surface by a network of deeply sunk stream channels (PI. VI, A). 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 422 PLATE 




LOWER ANIMAS VALLEY. SHOWING NORTH ALKALI FLAT. 



UPPER ANIMAS VALLEY. 77 

The present topography can be attributed to four processes — the 
accumulation of debris to form the valley surface; the cutting of 
the central Animas Creek trough, which, as shown by material in 
wells, extended at least 30 feet below the present floor of the trough; 
the filling of the central Animas Creek trough to the present level; 
and the erosion of the stream-built slopes that border the Animas 
Creek trough. (See fig. 6.) 

The destruction of stream-built slopes by the same agencies that 
built them is not uncommon. This effect is illustrated on a grand 
scale by the Gila conglomerate, along Gila River, correlated by 
Gilbert * with the detrital deposits that form the valleys and plains 
of the adjacent region. After stating that " the watercourses 
which cross these deposits are sinking themselves into them instead 
of adding to their depth," he says, "in the accumulation and sub- 
sequent excavation of the beds there is recorded a reversal of 
conditions." To account for the period of accumulation preceding 
the present period of extensive dissection of the deposits along the 
Gila, Gilbert reasons that some condition must have existed which 
determined the discharge of the streams at a higher elevation than 
at present. A succession of depositional and erosional processes in 
part similar to that in the Gila Valley is recorded on a smaller scale 
in the topography of Upper Animas Valley. 

Lower Animas Valley was formerly occupied by a lake whose shore 
features can be traced nearly to the mouth of the Animas Creek 
trough and suggest that the processes listed above have been 
intimately connected with the oscillations of the water level of the 
lake, erosion taking place when the lake stood low and aggradation 
when it stood high. 

A theory which appears better to fit the facts, however, is that 
the erosion of the trough occurred during the lake epoch, when 
the run-off was heavy, and that aggradation characterized the more 
arid prelacustrine and postlacustrine epochs. 

The building up of the detrital slopes and the cutting of the 
Animas Creek trough could possibly have taken place simultane- 
ously and have had nothing to do with the fluctuation of the ancient 
lake. Upper Animas Valley is comparatively narrow, and the 
bordering mountains are steep and massive. The distance between 
the head and foot of the stream-built slopes being short, there is 
little opportunity for the run-off, spread out over these slopes, to 
concentrate so as to do much erosive work before reaching the 
middle of the valley. But the waters coming from both sides con- 
centrate at the axis of the valley and, flowing in volume along the 
axis toward the Lower Animas depression, are more likely to have 1 
sufficient erosive power to cut a trough. 11* the materia] found in 

i Gilbert, O. K., U. S. Goog. and Geol. Surveys W. 100th Mor. Rept., \»1. 3, pp. 640 541, L875, 



78 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

the wells of the Animas Creek trough has been correctly interpreted 
as having been deposited later than the bulk of the valley sediments 
the surface of Lower Animas Valley must, however, at one time 
have been lower than at present by an amount equal to at least the 
thickness of these deposits, a condition that implies some reversal 
of physiographic processes. Material is now being laid down on 
top of the old lake sediments in Lower Animas Valley by the run-off 
in the same manner as in other parts of the area, the coarser sedi- 
ments being deposited nearest the base of the ranges and the clays 
and finer sediments being carried out farthest from the mountains 
into the center of the valley. In Upper Animas Valley material 
from the mountains and much that is being eroded from the lower 
and middle parts of the stream-built slopes is being deposited on 
the floor of the Animas Creek trough. 

Pelonci Ho Range Upper Animas Valley Animas Ranie" 

(WEST) & rr (EAST) * 




215=11^1 Younger alluvium consisting 

-tL^A-- of bedded gravel, sand.and 

y^S' - ^- f clay.f_" °'"'°^I>' '■> 



"■ „. ~ZF r ~- Older alluvium ("wasri') consisting of an almost impervious mixture-. "j. 
-^- --tt-_ of clay, sand, and gravel ° — - ^— ~_^_ j »,;'; o. '°- -'"'iL^LJ- l' "' ' " ' ^ 

~ o ' ° ° o '. <. '■ . . ° . . .' °. '. r . o • '- 9 o O ■ o' ' ' r- ■ ■ '. ". ■ ; o'j ' ' . ' ■ O 



Figure 6.— Section across Animas Creek trough showing typical ground-water conditions. 
OCCURRENCE OE GROUND WATER. 

Shallow water occurs in the recent alluvial fill of the Animas 
Creek trough. In the lower part of this flat-bottomed trough, 
where most of the wells are located, the recent alluvium consists in 
general of 8 to 10 feet of clayey or sandy soil underlain by beds of 
clean gravel and sand, aggregating 10 to 12 feet in thickness and 
resting on a basement of reddish, gravelly, nearly impervious clay, 
commonly called "wash" (fig. 6). This "wash" is the older fill 
in which the Animas Creek trough was channeled. The gravel in 
the recent fill is the water-bearing bed. It shows great variability 
in thickness and composition and is not continuous for any great 
distances. It has the characteristics of deposits laid down by a 
stream. The gravel is in many places cross-bedded. It contains 
a good deal of sand but is usually free from clay, so that on the whole 
it is a good water container. The thickest recent fill and the most 
productive gravels usually occur on the side adjacent to the highest 
and steepest bluffs. At the lower end of the flat the best wells are 



UPPER ANIMAS VALLEY, 



79 



located along the east side, as is shown by the well sections in figure 7. 
In well 112, for instance, located at the western edge of the flat, 
the recent fill is 19 feet thick. Although there is 11 feet of gravel 
it is practically all above the water level, and hence the well yields 



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very little water. In well 115, 1{ miles east of well L12, on the 
opposite side of the flat-bottomed trough, the recent (ill is 31 feet 
thick, the lower 2 feet of which is gravel saturated with water, 
This well furnishes enough water for a windmill but has never been 



80 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

tested with a power pump. In several other wells along the east 
side of the valley in this vicinity (Nos. 114 and 116, fig. 7) ample 
supplies of water were obtained in gravel. 

Farther up the valley, south of the Dunnagan ranch, the gravel is 
not so well sorted and is even more irregularly distributed, and the 
prospects of obtaining large water supplies are therefore poorer. 
Gravels saturated by the underflow occur along the borders of 
Animas Creek, and most of the wells in the upper part of the Animas 
Creek trough are located close to its channel. Wells at some distance 
from the creek often fail to furnish a sufficient supply. 

On account of the irregular distribution of the water-bearing gravel 
the yield that may be obtained from wells at any particular place in 
the Animas Creek trough can be determined only by actual trial. 
One well may pass into a buried gravel channel and yield an abun- 
dance of water, whereas another one a short distance away, may miss 
the gravel beds entirely and yield little or no water. Often several 
wells must be sunk in a particular area before a successful one is 
obtained. However, as all the wells are shallow and are sunk by the 
settlers themselves, this condition works no great hardship. 

Additions to the ground-water supply are made by the run-off 
from the adjacent watershed poured into the Animas Creek trough 
through the numerous gullies opening into it from the sides, and to 
some extent by the rain which falls directly into the trough, and by 
percolation from buried gravel channels in the older fill. 

The amount of good water-bearing material is comparatively 
small, and consequently the storage capacity of the formation is also 
small and fluctuations in the water table are frequent, the rise and 
fall being governed chiefly by the seasonal rainfall. As the demands 
made on the ground-water supply are as yet small the effects due to 
pumping are hardly appreciable, but the continued development of 
this supply for irrigation is liable to cause a considerable lowering of 
the water table. 

IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENTS. 

Up to the present not much has been accomplished toward develop- 
ing ground water for irrigation in the Upper Animas Valley. In 
November, 1913, when this region was examined, a pumping plant 
consisting of a No. 5 horizontal centrifugal pump driven by a gasoline 
engine was being installed on the farm of Ben Pague in the SW,. J 
sec. 10, T. 28 S., R. 19 W. (well 114, PL II, in pocket), and a pump- 
ing plant with a 12-horsepower gasoline engine and a No. 5 centrif- 
ugal pump was installed on the farm of B. H. Pague, 2\ miles farther 
south, in the SE. \ sec. 27, T. 28 S., R. 19 W. (well 124, PL II). 
These were the only serious endeavors being made at that time for 
the utilization of ground waters for irrigation on a comprehensive 



UPPER ANIMAS VALLEY. 81 

scale. Many small orchards and garden patches were being irrigated 
by windmills in connection with small earth storage reservoirs. Flood 
waters were also being used to some extent to irrigate small fields. 

In the higher parts of the valley outside of the Animas Creek trough 
irrigation by pumped water is not practicable, as shallow water in 
sufficient quantities is generally not available. Along some of the 
watercourses on the stream-built slopes small amounts of water for 
stock can be obtained through shallow wells tapping the underflow. 
As far as is known no deep wells have been sunk on these upland 
areas, but the non water-bearing nature of the upper portion of the 
main mass of the valley fill is revealed in a well sunk at the XT ranch, 
in the SE. J sec. 30, T. 29 S., R. 19 W., 200 feet east of the present 
ranch well (No. 160, PI. II). This well is reported to have been 
drilled to a depth of 305 feet through reddish sandy clay yielding 
little or no water. Wells higher up the slopes would pass through 
more gravelly material, but the depth to water would be greater. 

ARTESIAN PROSPECTS. 

Conditions in Upper Animas Valley are not believed to be favorable 
for artesian water. The main body of the valley fill has not been 
prospected to any great depth, the deepest well, so far as known, 
being the 305-foot well at the XT ranch. To this depth at least 
the valley fill is undoubtedly of fluviatile origin. The material 
found in the XT well is rather vaguely described as " reddish sandy 
clay soil," but for the whole depth it is said to have been similar to 
the older stream-deposited material underlying the recent sediments 
in the Animas Creek trough. Below the depth of this well the 
character of the valley fill is not known, but there is no reason to 
believe that it differs very radically. If it is of fluviatile origin it can 
have no great regularity either in composition or arrangement. 

In the artesian area of San Simon Valley, which lies west of Animas 
Valley, a persistent bed of impervious blue clay blankets the water- 
bearing beds and prevents the water from escaping upward except 
through wells. Though the upper beds of the main body of valley 
fill along the middle of Upper Animas Valley have been proved to be 
nearly impervious they are not believed to be continuous far enough 
up the slopes of the valley to form an effective artesian cover. It is, 
of course, possible that the valley is underlain by a persistent clay bed 
similar to that in San Simon Valley 

QUALITY OF WATER. 

Analyses were made of the water from wells 115, 124, 148, 172, 
and 175 in the shallow-water belt. (See map, PL II, and Table 2, 
p. 143.) In mineral content they range from a minimum of 130 

, — 18— wsp 422 G 



82 GEOUND WATEE IN SOUTHERN GBANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

parts per million of total dissolved solids, in the region near the head of 
the valley, to a maximum of 290 parts per million at the lower end of 
the valley. The waters from different parts of the valley all show a 
close resemblance to each other in chemical composition, all being 
of the calcium-carbonate type. In this respect they differ from 
the waters of most of the valleys of southern Grant County. The 
low mineralization and uniformity in chemical composition of the 
waters is due to the character of the rocks in the adjacent mountains, 
chiefly of igneous origin, to the elevated position of the water-bearing 
beds resulting in isolation from the beds of adjoining areas, and to 
the conditions under which the beds were laid down. The deposits 
in the Upper Animas trough were laid down by streams under 
drainage conditions that did not favor the accumulation of alkali, 
and hence these deposits do not supply much soluble matter to the 
water that enters them. As a whole the waters of Upper Animas 
Valley are the best waters in southern Grant County. They are 
excellent for irrigation and domestic use and not objectionable for 
boiler use. The waters from wells 172 and 175 in the upper part of 
the valley are classed as good for boiler use; those from wells 115, 
124, and 148, located lower down in the valley, have some tendency 
to foam and to form considerable scale and have therefore been 
classed as fair. 

SOIL IN EELATION TO WATEE SUPPLIES. 

The soils of the stream-built slopes, or " mesas," above the Animas 
Creek trough are derived from debris brought down from the moun- 
tains. On account of the narrowness of the valley the grades of the 
stream-built slopes are comparatively steep and the soils are coarse, 
their principal constituents being gravel and sand. Along the 
bottoms of the draws and at other places where storm waters collect 
and soak into the ground a good growth of native grasses and shrubs 
attest the fertility of the soil. 

The soils in the Animas Creek trough are largely a secondary 
product of the mesa soils. They consist mostly of sand, silt, and 
clay washed down from the mesas and redeposited. At the mouths 
of some of the larger arroyos the coarser materials have been washed 
down into the trough and the soils are gravelly. 

The porosity of the soil and the surface drainage have prevented 
the accumulation of alkali in the soil. Soil samples were taken in 
three localities. Samples 33 and 34 (see map, PL I) were taken in 
the thickly settled region in the lower part of the valley. They 
contained only negligible amounts of alkali, sample 33 showing 
0.10 per cent of total alkali and 0.05 per cent of black alkali, and 
sample 34 showing 0.15 per cent -of total alkali and 0.05 per cent of 
black alkali. Sample 49 (see map, PI. I), taken nearer the head of 



LOWER ANIMAS VALLEY. 83 

the valley, contained 0.15 per cent of total alkali and 0.05 per cent 
of black alkali. On soils of this character all the ordinary crops can 
be successfully grown. 

LOWER ANIMAS VALLEY. 
PHYSIOGRAPHY AND DRAINAGE. 

General f&ffiwres. — Lower Animas Valley lies between the Pyramid 
and Peloncillo ranges and extends from the vicinity of the El Paso 
& Southwestern Railroad to the northern end of the area described 
in this report. The Pyramid Range, which borders the valley 
on the east, trends nearly north and south. The Peloncillo Range, 
which borders the valley on the west, trends west of north and crosses 
the State line 7 miles south of the northern boundary of the area 
described in this report. The divergence of the mountain borders 
causes a widening of Lower Animas Valley toward the north. Its 
average width is about 12 miles. The axial part of the valley con- 
sists of a low, nearly level plain, about 5 miles wide. Bordering 
this lowland on both sides are wide stream-built slopes, which extend 
down from the mountains with gentle gradients, but which at their 
lower ends pitch abruptly downward to the central plain. 

The bank that borders the central plain is hardly distinguishable 
in some places and is very conspicuous in others, but it can be traced 
around nearly the whole circumference of the central plain and 
gives this plain a distinctive and sharp boundary. Certain marked 
resemblances between this feature and old beaches leads to the 
belief that it originated at the time the lake existed in the valley 
and that it marks the old shore line. Such a bank could have been 
formed by delta deposits of sheet floods. 

The central plain or axis of the valley is noticeably nearer the 
western than the eastern side. The position of the axis relative to 
the bounding ranges has been determined by the difference in the 
size of the stream-built slopes on the two sides of the valley. The 
Peloncillo Range on the west side, especially along the 20-mile 
stretch between the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad and Steins 
Pass, is narrow and low, and the relatively small amounts of waste 
originating on its flanks gives rise to correspondingly short debris 
slopes. The Pyramid Range on the east is wider and larger and 
furnishes more sediments. Hence the debris slopes that border 
this range have extended farther into the valley and crowded the 
axis toward the opposite side. 

The Animas drainage basin, of which Lower Animas Valley is a 
part, is in the form of an inverted L with Upper Animas Valley form- 
ing the leg, Lordsburg Valley the toe, and Lower Animas Y alley 
the heel of the letter. The drainage from Upper Animas Valley to 
the south and from Lordsburg Valley to the east is discharged into 



84 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

Lower Animas Valley and. finds its way to the lowest depression in 
the basin northeast of Steins Pass, where a large play a, has been 
developed. Much of the storm water discharged into Lower Animas 
Valley from the canyons in the mountains along its border is absorbed 
by the coarse sediments that form the upper parts of the stream- 
built slopes. That which is not absorbed follows down the slopes in 
broad shallow draws and is shed upon the central plain. A few of 
the streamways are rather deep, but there is no such general dissec- 
tion of the stream-built slopes as in Upper Animas Valley. 

On the central plain most of the drainage is northward in the gen- 
eral direction of the slope. Owing to the very gentle slope the move- 
ment is sluggish, and practically no erosion has taken place. Most 
of the run-off from the east side of the valley and some from the west 
side eventually finds its way through a shallow depression extending 
from the vicinity of the Holmig wells, past the Seven-Twelve ranch, 
northward along the eastern edge of the central plain and under the 
railroad trestle near the Southern Pacific Railroad sidetrack at Con- 
rad, into the alkali flat north of the track. 

Alkali flats. — On the central plain in the northern part of the valley 
are two alkali flats. (See PI. I, in pocket.) 

The north flat forms the floor of a roughly circular depression. It 
is approximately 5f square miles in area and is from 3 to 8 feet below 
the general surface of the plain. The flat is perfectly level and has a 
smooth, hard surface stained with alkali and absolutely devoid of 
vegetation (PI. VI, B). On the west side the flat is bordered by a 
short, abrupt gravelly slope leading up to the plain, but on the re- 
maining sides it is separated from the plain by a continuous, low, 
symmetrical embankment or ridge of gravel and sand. This feature 
has been described as one of the beach ridges of ancient Lake Animas 
(p. 86). 

The south flat occupies the lowest portion of the valley and has an 
area of approximately 16i square miles. On the west it is bounded 
by a short, abrupt sandy slope leading up to the plain 3 or 4 feet 
above it and on the north by a small sand ridge. On the east it has 
no definite boundary but gradually merges into the Lordsburg Draw, 
which here opens into it. On the south it is at present bounded by 
the embankment of the Southern Pacific Railroad. 

The flat is level, has a smooth, hard surface, and no vegetation 
except a few scattered clumps of alkali sacaton. 

The alkali flats no doubt represent the remnants of ancient Lake 
Animas. That the lake survived in the depression of the north flat 
long after it had begun to recede and left the older strand features 
high and dry is proved by the existence of a distinct terrace, several 
feet up on the inward slope of the beach ridge at the northern end of 
the depression. 



LOWER ANIM'AS VALLEY. 85 

Sand dunes. — Sand dunes cover an area of about 30 square miles 
in the region north of the alkali flats, chiefly in Tps. 21 and 22 S., Rs. 
19 and 20 W. The sands have been piled up in low hills and ridges by 
the wind. Generally the dunes are not over 15 or 20 feet high, but 
in some places near the southern border of the area, where the sand 
sheet is thickest, they reach a height of 50 or 60 feet. The building 
of the dunes is probably closely connected with the history of the 
ancient lake whose shore line is traceable along the southern boundary 
of the sand area (p. 87). At the present time movement of the sand 
by the winds is retarded to a large extent by the vegetation. Mes- 
quite and sagebrush, evidently preferring the loose sandy soil of the 
sand area to the denser soil of the surrounding plain, is scattered over 
the entire area (PL III, B, p. 26). The geology of the sand deposits 
is described on page 35. 

Lava beds (malpais). — Lava, commonly known in this region as 
"malpais" (Spanish, badland), covers a portion of the plain west of 
Animas (PL I, in pocket). It is spread out in a thin sheet over an 
irregular area approximately 22 square miles in extent. The lava 
sheet is about 12 miles in length and extends from a point at the base 
of the Peloncillo Mountains 4J miles south of Pratt northward to a 
point in the center of the valley east of Cowboy Pass. Its greatest 
width, approximately along the line of the El Paso & Southwestern 
Railroad, is about 3J miles. 

The average elevation of the lava sheet above the plain is 15 or 20 
feet, although it varies considerably from place to place, ranging from 
a few feet where the adjacent plain has been built up by sedimentation 
to 45 feet where the plain has been worn down by erosion. Along 
the eastern and southern margins small detached areas of lava rise 
above the plain not far from the main lava sheet. Obviously the 
detached masses are connected with the main mass underground and 
have become separated by a building up of the plain (PL VII, A). 

The relation of the lava sheet to the major features of the existing 
topography and to minor differences between the topography that 
existed when the lava was poured out and that now existing is clearly 
shown in the shape and position of the lava sheet. (See PL I, in 
pocket.) The general slope of the lava sheet is northward along the 
axis of the valley. It is highest at the southern end, where it ex- 
tends up the stream-built slope to the base of the Peloncillo Moun- 
tains. The vent from which most of the lava flowed was probably 
located here. From the base of the mountains the course of the 
lava flow was northeastward down the stream-built slope almost to 
the center of the valley and then northward along its axis, corre- 
sponding in a measure to the course that a stream of water would 
follow at the present day. Near its source the lava stream was deep, 
and the minor irregularities of the surface over which it flowed were 



86 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

j »t expressed in the contour of its surface after it solidified; but at 
the northern extremity of the flow the lava flood was comparatively 
shallow, and here the irregularities of the surface over which it flowed 
are indicated in the outline of the lava area. The tongues of lava 
that extend from the main mass out on the plain probably indicate 
depressions in the old landscape; reentrants of the plain into the lava 
area were high places in the original surface. 

The surface of the lava area is extremely rough. It is covered with 
loose angular fragments of lava and interrupted with fissures, caverns, 
and jagged projections of all descriptions. Travel over it on foot or 
horseback is difficult, and travel by wheeled conveyances is impossible 
except along established roads. 

Shore features of ancient Lake Animas. — In the inclosed desert val- 
leys the stream-built slopes if not modified by some other agency 
extend down from the borders of the .mountains and merge into the 
flat central part of the valley without any perceptible break in gradient. 
In Lower Animas Valley, however, the edges of the central plain are 



Elevation above 

sea level 

Feet 

4,200 



S E. 




o 200 aoo 600 eoo i.ooo 1,200 Feet 

Figure 8.— Profile of beach ridge of ancient Lake Animas. 

in most places sharply marked either by a break in slope or by low, 
symmetrical ridges or embankments of sand and gravel. At the lower 
end of the valley, where these features are best developed, they exhibit 
well the characteristics of beach slopes and beach ridges. 

On the west side an old beach, strewn with waterworn, flattened 
pebbles resembling the typical shore shingle found along modern 
beaches, extends in a continuous line a distance of 9 miles, from a point 
near the northeast corner of sec. 31, T. 22 S., R. 20 W., not far from 
the south end of the north alkali flat, to the north line of sec. 18, T. 
24 S., R. 20 W., 1 J miles south, of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The 
most conspicuous feature of this old beach line is the gravel ridge 
that extends for 4 J miles from a point one-fourth mile north of the 
southeast corner of sec. 31, T. 22 S., R. 20 W., to the middle of the 
north line of sec. 25, T. 23 S., R. 21 W. The ridge is 500 to 600 feet 
wide at the base, about 30 feet high on the lake side, and 10 feet high 
on the opposite side. Longitudinally the crest line, except for local 
irregularities, is practically level. The wide, gently rounded crest 
and the long, gravelly sweeping slope on the east side which formed 
the beach of the ancient Lake Animas is shown in figure 8. 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



DLf 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 422 PLATE VII 




A. QUATERNARY LAVA (MALPAIS) RESTING ON VALLEY FILL, SHOWING DETACHED 
MASSES SEPARATED FROM MAIN MASS RY RUILDING UP OF ALLUVIAL PLAIN. 




REACH RIDGE ON WEST SIDE OK LOWER AINIM\S VALLEY, SHOWING DRAINAGE 
GAP; PKLONCILLO MOUNTAINS IN BACKGROUND. 



LOWER ANIMAS VALLEY. 87 

The low area immediately back of the ridge was probably origi- 
nally covered by the old lake, but as the ridge was built up it was 
cut off from the main body of water and transformed into a lagoon. 
The drainage from this area and from parts of the stream-built slope 
and of the mountain range back of it now finds outlet through two 
gaps in the ridge near the middle of the west line of sec. 13, T. 23 S., 
R. 21 W. (See PL I, in pocket, and PL VII, B.) 

On the east side of the valley the old beach is distinct for a distance 
of Hi miles, from a point on the south side of the Lordsburg Draw 
about lj miles north of Pyra (middle of east line of sec. 28, T. 22 S., 
R. 19 W.) southward along the edge of the central plain to about the 
north line of sec. 18, T. 24 S., R. 19 W., 3 miles north of the Seven- 
Twelve ranch. In sec. 6, T. 24 S., R. 19 W., and in sees. 19 and 30, 
T. 23 S., R. 19 W., it is marked by small beach ridges, but along the 
rest of its course it consists of a single gravelly beach slope extending 
10 to 25 feet above the valley floor. 

A small but distinct beach ridge extends along the north side of 
the Lordsburg Draw for about 1J miles. It is in sees. 20 and 21, 
T. 22 S., R. 19 W., between the eastern edge of the sand area and a 
small group of rocky hills 2J miles north of Pyra. The northern 
shore of the old lake probably coincided closely with the edge of the 
present sand-hill area, where traces of an old beach are displayed at 
a number of points. A beach ridge was developed at some distance 
from the shore along the north, east, and South borders of the present 
alkali flat south of the Hackb'erry well. This ridge is about 4 miles 
long, 15 feet high on the lake side, and 5 feet high on the shoreward 
side, and has an average width of about 200 feet across the base. 
A lagoon probably occupied the area between it and the outer shore 
along the edge of the sand area. 

A lake conforming to the shore features described above would 
extend from the Hackberry well south for nearly 15 miles to the 
vicinity of the Boss ranch and the Seven-Twelve ranch, covering all 
of the central plain between these points so as to include a large part 
of the south half of T. 22 S., all of T. 23 S., and most of T. 24 S., in R. 
20 W. The lowest part of the valley now occupied by the larger 
alkali flat would be submerged to a depth of 35 or 40 feet. An ami 
of the lake would extend up the Lordsburg Draw to the playas at 
its upper end. 

Features similar to those described from the lower part of the 
valley are also found farther south in the region north of the El 
Paso & Southwestern Railroad. A line of low bluffs facing the 
valley and resembling the front of a wave-cnt beach terrace extends 
along the western edgo of the central plain from Cowboy Pass south 
for 7J miles to within 1J miles of Pratt. A similar bluff borders the 
eastern edgo of the central plain for IV miles just oast of (he Wamel 



SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

ranch. S^ve. * ^ng, low embankments, or ridges, composed of 
coarse sand and waterworn gravel and bearing some resemblance 
to the beach ridges farther north, extend out on the plain from 
the eastern edge of the malpais area that occupies the center of the 
valley. One of these ridges extends from the northern tip of the 
malpais area in a southeasterly direction across the plain for more 
than 4 miles to the road a quarter of a mile north of the Wamel 
ranch. A small ridge extends westward from the point of a lava 
tongue near the SW. | sec. 1, T. 27 S., R. 19 W. About half a mile 
farther south the wagon road approaching Animas from the north- 
west follows along the top of a similar ridge extending from the 
edge of the malpais for 1J miles out on the plain. This ridge, which 
is the most conspicuous of the three, rises about 5 feet above the 
plain and has an average width of about 50 to 60 feet. A growth of 
yucca and other desert shrubs along the crest brings it out in sharp 
contrast to the bare plain surrounding it. Aside from the shore 
features displayed along its edges, the level central plain, in the 
character and disposition of its sediments, its general form, and 
its relation to the bordering stream-built slopes has many of the 
characteristics of an old lake bed. 

There is no difficulty in outlining approximately the boundaries 
of a lake which would conform to the northern group of shore fea- 
tures in the lower part of the valley. The features making up the 
southern group, on the other hand, can not be fitted to any body 
of water which could exist under present topographic conditions. 
A lake conforming to the gravel ridge 1| miles northwest of Animas 
would be approximately 4,390 feet 1 above* sea level, and would 
therefore stand about 190 feet above the divide 2 that separates 
the Animas drainage basin from that of Gila River and would sub- 
merge the old beaches in the lower part of the valley to a depth of -200 
feet. To bring the shore features in the lower and upper parts of the 
valley into position so that they could have been formed contempo- 
raneously along the same body of water would therefore necessitate 
a relative vertical displacement of 200 feet. These two groups of 
features may have been formed at different stages of the lake and 
may have originally been at different levels, but the upper beaches 
could not have originally stood higher than the divide unless the 
Gila Valley had contained a great body of water at this time, of 
which there is no evidence. More precise leveling will be necessary 
before a satisfactory explanation of the high-level strands in the 
Animas Valley will be possible. 

1 Estimated from known elevation at Animas station, given as 4,394 feet in Dictionary of Altitudes of the 
United States: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 274, p. 640, 190G. 

2 Elevation of Summit station on Arizona & New Mexico Railway, given as 4,207 feet (idem, p. 651). 



LOWER ANIMAS VALLEY. 89 



GROUND WATER. 
DEPTH TO WATER. 



UT' 



The depth to water in the central plain of Lower Animas Valley 
ranges from about 10 feet in the center of the plain, east of Steins 
Pass, to about 180 feet in the upper part of the valley, south of 
Animas station. From about 70 well measurements made during 
the summer and fall of 1913 it is estimated that approximately 132 
square miles is underlain by water-bearing beds at a depth of 100 
feet or less below the surface. This estimate includes 8 square miles 
in which depth to water is 15 feet or less, 35 square miles in which 
depth ranges from 15 to 25 feet, 36 square miles from 25 to 50 feet, 
and 53 square miles from 50 to 100 feet. As shown on the map 
(PL II, in pocket), ground water occurs at a depth of 15 feet or less 
below the surface in a roughly oval-shaped area, about 5 miles 
long from north to south, and about If miles wide, lying just south 
of the big alkali flat and near the east side of the central plain. This 
area includes about one-half of the eastern half of T. 24 S., R. 20 
W., and a small part of T. 23 S., R. 20 W. 

Outward from this area of shallowest water the depth increases 
in all directions. The zone of 15 to 25 foot depth to water includes 
almost all of the southern half of the south alkali flat in T. 23 S., 
R. 20 W., nearly half of the next township south, and the north- 
east corner of T. 25 S., R. 20 W. The 25 to 50 foot zone includes 
the middle and western parts of the alkali flat in T. 23 S., R. 20 W., 
a narrow strip along the west and east sides of T. 24 S., R. 20 W., 
and along the west side of Tps. 24 and 25 S., R. 19 W., and a large 
area in the central portion of T. 25 S., R. 20 W. The 50 to 100 foot 
zone extends in a very narrow strip along the east and west edges 
of the central plain, including a part of the bordering stream-built 
slopes, in Tps. 23 and 24 S., R. 21 W., and Tps. 24 and 25 S., R. 
20 W., on the west side and in Tps. 23, 24, and 25 S., R. 19 W., 
on the east side. It also includes most of T. 26 S., R. 20 W., and the 
tongue of land extending south into the malpais area in T. 27 S., 
R. 20 W. In the north it includes the northern portion of the big 
alkali flat and the lower part of the Lordsburg Draw. 

FORM OF THE WATER TABLE. 

The boundaries on the map show the relation of the water table to 
the land surface and are not water-table contours. As elevations of 
the surface at the tops of wells that were measured were not avail- 
able it was not possible to construct a contour map of the water (able, 
but the data at hand afford a basis for certain generalizations in 
regard to the behavior of the water table. Thus, it is known thai 
the general slope of the water table is toward the north. At Animas 



90 



GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 



2 « 



09*°N l|3M 



20I'°N II3M }= 

o o> £ <D 

tf § 2 £ *. 



station, on the El Paso & Southwestern Rail- 
road, the surface is about 4,395 feet above sea 
level, and the depth to the water table 120 feet, 
making the water table about 4,275 feet above 
sea level. At the Leahy well (No. 60 on the 
map, PL II, in pocket), 19 J miles north of 
Animas, the surface is about 4,150 feet above 
sea level, the depth to the water table is 10 
feet, and the water table about 4,140 feet 
above sea level. At Animas, therefore, the 
surface is 245 feet and the water table 135 
feet higher than at the Leahy well, showing a 
surface slope of 12|- feet per mile and a water- 
table slope in the same direction of approxi- 
mately 7 feet per mile. Thus, whereas the 
water table and the land surface slope in the 
same direction, the land surface has the steeper 
gradient, so that the two converge toward the 
north and the depth to water decreases in that 
direction. 

Northward from the Leahy well, on the other 
hand, the water table and the land surface 
diverge and the depth to water increases. Be- 
tween the Leahy well and the south end of the 
big alkali flat there is only a slight decrease in 
elevation, and across the alkali flat the eleva- 
tion remains practically the same, but the water 
table continues to slope northward at about the 
same rate as farther south, or at least it is so 
indicated by wells along the west edge of the cen- 
tral plain. For example, at well 47 (PL II, in 
pocket) the depth to water is 33 feet, but at well 
44, 3 miles farther north and at about the same 
elevation, the depth to water is 49 feet, an increase 
of 16 feet, or approximately 5 feet per mile. This 
decline of the water table toward the north end 
of the valley seems to indicate that there is leak- 
age of ground water out of this drainage basin 
into the Gila basin. Figure 9 shows the con- 
ditions as outlined above in diagrammatic form. 

On the stream-built slopes adjacent to the cen- 
tral plain the water table is generally inclined 
toward the central plain, but as this inclination 
is less than that of the surface the depth to 
water increases toward the mountains. 



LOWER ANIMAS VALLEY. 91 

There is an abrupt change in the ground-water level 4 or 5 miles 
south of the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad. At the XT stock 
wells (No. 104), 2 miles south of Animas, in the southern part of T. 27 
S., R. 19 W., the depth to water is reported to be about 180 feet, and 
farther south, in the two northern tiers of sections in T. 28 S., R. 19 
W., the depth is about the same, but in the next tier south— sees. 
15 and 16 in the same township — the depth to water is not over 30 
feet. The explanation of this break in the water table appears to 
be that compared to the body of ground water of Lower Animas 
Valley that in Upper Animas Valley is a perched water body, as 
represented in figure 10. 

The ground water in Upper Animas Valley occurs in gravels that 
lie at a shallow depth below the surface and form part of the recent 
fill laid down on the almost impervious clay and gravel mixture of 
the older fill." The gravels of these recent alluvial deposits appear not 



Elevation 
above 
sea level 
Feet 
4,500- 

4.40O - 


5. 


Upper Animas Valley 


Ground surface 


. Lower Animas Valley 


N. 




\ 


"~\ 


Water table 




4,300 - 




Horizontal scale 

1 2 


3 MILE1S 





Figure 10.— Section showing relative positions of water tables in Upper Animas and Lower Animas 

valleys. 

to extend out below the expanded central plain of Lower Animas 
Valley. Hence, wells in this plain of the lower valley do not encoun- 
ter the shallow-water bed but must be sunk to a lower stratum of 
gravel. This lower stratum may continue southward beneath Upper 
Animas Valley and could possibly be reached in the upper valley if 
deeper wells were drilled. The older fill is probably porous enough 
in the vicinity of the drop in the water table to allow the water 
from the upper gravel to sink to the lower stratum, for the under- 
flow does not accumulate sufficiently to reach the surface. 

WATER-BEARING BEDS. 

The central plain of Lower Animas Valley is underlain by uncon- 
solidated deposits consisting of beds of clay, sand, and gravel, and 
various mixtures of clay, sand, and gravel. In vertical section the 
different classes of material are arranged in definite layers more of 
less distinct from each other. Laterally the individual beds change 
rapidly by gradation from one class of material into another, making 
the identification of any particular bed in two different wells im- 
possible if the wells are widely separated and uncertain even it" they 



92 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 



are only a short distance apart. Figure 11 shows an attempt to 
correlate the beds exposed in two wells on the Keithley place in the 
SE. J sec. 13, T„ 25 S., R„ 20 W. The wells are 530 feet apart and 
are 1 mile west of the east edge of the valley (wells 85 and 86, PL II, 
in pocket). The beds exposed in the walls of the wells were carefully 
measured and similar beds in the two wells were correlated. The 
resulting section shows how the individual beds thin out or thicken 
within short distances, producing an interlocking series of wedge- 
shaped or lens-shaped bodies. This section is thought to represent 
fairly the general attitude of the upper 60 or 70 feet of beds in all of 
the central plain. A few wells in the upper part of the valley go to 
depths of about 200 feet, but in the lower part of the valley all the 
wells are less than 100 feet deep and there is therefore no information 
as to the character of the lower beds. 



'.« .a* 

feet £ 

Coarse dean sand n 
Fine firm sand 
with some clay 

12- 

Clean gravel 

Fine sand and clay \ 

Clay 

Water levels 

Gravef 



± Depth 
5 feet 






-;^y---___- -- -_ ^: f 4 Sandy clay 

12/2 Coarse clean light- 

i e gray sand 

i gi/j Coarse clean gravel 






Approximately 500 feet 



sand with 
some clay 
• Water level 



Clay 



Figure 11. — Section showing characteristic lenticular shape of beds of valley fill on east side of Lower 
Animas Valley. Based on correlation of beds exposed in wells indicated. 

Figure 12 shows the plotted logs of wells representative of condi- 
tions in their respective localities. The finer sediments predominate 
near the center of the valley, but there is a decided increase in the 
proportion of coarse sediments toward the edges of the valley. In 
a 50-foot section of the Leahy well (No. 60, PL II, in pocket), for 
instance, there is only about 20 per cent of gravel; whereas in a 34- 
foot section of the Hay don well (No. 68) nearly 50 per cent of the 
material consists of gravel, and in the two Keithley wells (Nos. 85 
and 86) there are respectively 60 per cent of gravel in a 40-foot 
section and 40 per cent of coarse sand and gravel in a 34-foot section. 
(See fig. 11.) On the stream-built slopes above the central plain 
the proportion of coarse material is still larger. In the De Moss 
well (No. 49), for example, a 70-foot section shows over 90 per cent 
of coarse material of which 15 per cent is clean coarse sand and 
gravel and the rest coarse angular gravel mixed with clay and com- 
monly referred to as "wash." 

The sediments beneath the central plain of Lower Animas Valley to 
the depths ordinarily penetrated by wells were probably laid down in 
the lake that existed here in ancient times and were more thoroughly 



LOWER ANIMAS VALLEY. 



93 



assorted and more regularly stratified than the stream deposits. 
The thickness of the lake sediments has not been determined. The 
log of the Winkler well (see p. 110), in Lower Play as Valley, where a 
lake existed which was probably contemporaneous with the one here, 
shows unconsolidated, bedded clays, sands, and gravels to a depth 
of 350 feet, below which to a depth of 836 feet the materials were so 
thoroughly cemented as to render them almost impervious. The top 
of this cemented material may or may not mark the bottom of the 
lake sediments. At any rate it marks the depth beyond which it 
would seem futile to hope for favorable conditions for ground water. 



Well No. 68 
West side of 
central plain 
Depth 

in ~ 
£eet 



Water level 30-> 






fel 



-Surface-- 



Well No. 60 
Center of valley 

Depth 

— in — 

feet 



Soil 



Water level io-> 



Gravel and small 
streaks of clay 



Gravel 



-Surface 



Well No.49 
Stream-built slope 
east side of valley 
Depth 

in" 



Sand 



Clay 



*&%<$% Sanc * anc ' gravel 



60 



Water level 64->|*p| 



mm 
MM 

gg£g 

fe°pjg 



mm 
mm 

33F 



Soil 



Mixture of coarse 

gravel and clay 

("wash") 



Sand and gravel 



Gravel 



Figure 12.— Sections of wells in Lower Animas Valley. 

Wells in Lower Animas Valley draw their supply from the sands 
and gravels that occur in the saturated zone below the water level. 
In the central part of the valley, where most of the wells are situated, 
two water-bearing strata are usually recognized, the first generally 
between 30 and 40 feet below the surface and the second between 60 
and 70 feet. As the water level varies from place to place there arc 
of course many exceptions to this rule, but it is usually necessary to 
tap at least two water-bearing beds in order to obtain a supply ade- 
quate for irrigation. It is not improbable that still other water- 
bearing beds could be found by drilling deeper into the valley fill. 



94 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

QUALITY OF WATER. 
AMOUNTS OF TOTAL DISSOLVED SOLIDS. 

Samples of water were collected from 18 wells in Lower Animas 
Valley. (See PI. II, in pocket, and Table 2, wells 40, 41, 42, 45, 57, 
59, 60, 61, 62, 68, 76, 80, 83, 85, 87, 90, 102, and 106.) Ten of these 
waters are of the sodium-carbonate type, of which seven may be 
classed as highly mineralized with total solids ranging from 516 to 
1,340 parts per million and three as moderately mineralized with 282 
to 432 parts per million of total solids. Four are highly mineralized 
sodium-sulphate waters, containing 768 to -3,165 parts per milhon 
of total solids. Three of the waters are of the calcium-carbonate 
type and carry 421 to 491 parts per million of total solids, and one is a 
sodium-chloride water, containing 1,340 parts per million of total 
solids. 

The waters from wells north of the Southern Pacific Kailroad are 
with one exception (well 83) much more highly mineralized than those 
from wells south of the railroad — that is, in the valley as a whole there 
is a steady increase in the mineral content of the waters from south to 
north. This may be due to the fact that a decided northward slope 
of the water table has resulted in a general movement of ground water 
in that direction and its consequent increased mineral content by con- 
tact with buried strata of alkali. (See pp. 89-91). Water absorbed 
by the ground near the head of the valley would gradually increase 
in mineral content in its passage northward by coming into contact 
with the soluble salts in the soil. The movement of the water under- 
ground is necessarily very slow and the opportunities for leaching are 
correspondingly great; and water that enters the ground compara- 
tively pure may in the long distance that it has to travel attain a con- 
centration equal to that of the highly mineralized waters at the north 
end of the valley. The soils in the low central part of the valley are 
heavily charged with mineral salts on account of peculiar conditions 
of drainage. As the shore features show, the valley has long been a 
closed basin, and old soils containing much soluble matter are prob- 
ably buried in the zone of circulating ground waters. Though waters 
moving northward and gathering mineral matter along the axis of the 
valley are at places diluted by purer waters that enter it from the 
sides, this action is doubtless counterbalanced by the addition of 
mots concentrated solutions from other points. The relation of the 
water table to the mineral content of the ground water is shown dia- 
grammatically in figure 13, in which the shaded area represents the 
mineral content of water from representative wells situated along the 
axis of the valley and the upper boundary of the shaded area repre- 
sents on an exaggerated scale the profile of the water table. 



LOWER ANIMAS VALLEY. 



95 



Certain exceptions in the general northward increase of mineral 
content of the waters can be explained by the irregular distribution of 
salts in the deep soils below^the ground-water level. This irregularity 
is illustrated in wells 61 and 62, on the Sellards place in the NE. £ 
sec. 14, T. 24 S., R. 20 W. The waters from these two wells, which 
are within a short distance of each other, differ not only in character 
but also in their content of total solids, the irrigating well (No. 62) 
yielding a calcium-carbonate water containing 421 parts per million 
of mineral matter, and the domestic well (No. 61), a few hundred feet 
away, yielding a sodium-sulphate water containing 1,060 parts per 
million of dissolved matter. This difference in composition is prob- 
ably due to the fact that the water is drawn from different strata in 



4,600 
4,500 

4,400 



U 

- 1 4,300 

< 

m 

uj 4,200 

s 

CD 

< 4,100 



^ 4,000 - 



§ 3,900 - 

£ 

U 3,800 

UJ 

3.700 



3,600 



i 












- 


i 


5* 










_ 


1 


1 




5? 














//^///Tyy^^s/ 


$ 


> 


_ 




///y/y' 




I 


t - 


- 










yr 

4^/^v// 


1 _ 














Y //A ' 














//// 


- 




i 


. .. f 


■ » 


i 


- 



15 20 

MILES 



Figure 13.— Diagram showing relation of water table to total solids dissolved in ground waters of Lower 
Animas Valley. Numbers in shaded area indicate total solids in parts per million. 



the two wells, the domestic well, 19 feet deep, drawing its water from 
the first stratum, and the irrigating well, 39 feet deep, tapping the 
second stratum with the first cased off. A similar difference exists 
between the waters from the irrigating well of J. P» Kerr (No. 83) 
and the well of M. B. Keithley (No. 85), both of which are in sec. 
13, T. 25 S., R. 20 W. The water from the Keithley well contains 
516 parts per million of dissolved solids, whereas that from the Kerr 
well contains 3,165 parts per million, or more than six times as much, 
The Kerr well is 45 feet deep and the other is said to be about the 
same depth. 

It has been the experience of well drillers in the region that "good " 
or "bad" waters do not occur at any particular horizon and that 
the quality of water from any particular water bed does not depend 



96 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

on its depth or relative position. As one driller expressed it: "The 
alkali seems to occur in pockets and there is no regularity. Some- 
times the first stratum is more alkaline and sometimes the second." 
The water-bearing formations of the valley have been prospected to 
only comparatively shallow depths and deeper beds may yield water 
of more uniform and possibly better quality. 

QUALITY FOR IRRIGATION. 

According to the rating given on page 65, ten of the waters analyzed 
have been classed as good, four as fair, and four as poor for irrigation. 
The best water examined is that from Sellard's irrigating well (No. 
62), and the poorest is a sodium-carbonate water from an old, unused 
well (No. 45) west of the south alkali flat in the SE. i sec. 30, T. 23 
S., R. 20 W. Though this water contains only about three times as 
much mineral matter as that from well 62, it is rated as more 
than sixty times as harmful on account of the large proportion of 
sodium and carbonate in it. Two of the waters classed as poor (Nos. 
45 and 83) are in the area in which the water table is within economical 
pumping distance from the surface. The use of these waters for 
irrigation under ordinary irrigation practice would probably result 
in time in the deposition of so much alkali in the soil that even the 
most resistant crops could not grow. Waters of this type have been 
used with some success in certain regions on very loose porous soils 
with good drainage, but they would be almost sure to ruin the land 
in a short time under the conditions existing in Lower Animas Val- 
ley. Three of the waters (Nos. 59, 61, and 68) which are considered 
fair for irrigation could probably be used successfully in the valley 
if special care were taken to prevent accumulation of alkali in the 
soil. The waters classed as good will ordinarily not require special 
precautions to prevent accumulations of alkali. Conditions of drain- 
age and soil in some portions of the valley, however, are such that 
much alkali has accumulated in the soil through natural causes. 
(See map, PL I, in pocket.) In these areas the continued use of even 
the best waters may make the land unproductive unless proper 
precautions are taken. Some of the ways in which accumulations 
of alkali can be prevented and alkali land can be reclaimed are 
described on pages 47-50. 

QUALITY FOR DOMESTIC USE. 

Four of the waters have been classed as good, ten as fair, two as bad, 
and two as unfit for domestic use. Those classed as good are calcium- 
carbonate or sodium-carbonate waters with a mineralization not ex- 
ceeding 440 parts per million of total soluble salts. They have no 
perceptible taste, are fairly soft, and are acceptable for all domestic uses. 
Most of the waters designated as fair are the more highly mineralized 



LOWER ANIMAS VALLEY. 97 

sodium-carbonate and sodium-sulphate waters, yielded by wells along 
the west side of the central valley plain in Tps. 24 and 25 S., R. 20 W. 
They are not especially hard, but they have a slight taste, hardly 
perceptible to persons accustomed to their use but quite evident to 
others, which makes them less acceptable for drinking. The highly 
mineralized waters, from wells 40 and 41, in the northern por- 
tion of the valley, and well 45, west of the south alkali flat, are not 
good for domestic use, on account of their disagreeable taste, which 
makes them obnoxious to most people though they are not neces- 
sarily unhealthful. Well 83 yields the most highly mineralized 
water. The high sulphate content gives it a disagreeable taste and 
may make it unhealthful to some persons. 

QUALITY FOR BOILER USE. 

None of the waters analyzed has all the qualifications of a good 
boiler water, most of them possessing objectionable foaming tenden- 
cies caused by the presence of considerable sodium. About half the 
waters are high in scale-forming constituents, though only one is 
definitely corrosive. Among the waters examined that from the 
west one of Wamel's " railroad wells" (No. 102) at Animas station 
comes nearest being a good boiler water in all respects. The waters 
from wells 57 and 106 are next best and may be considered fair 
boiler waters in that they are noncorrosive and contain only mod- 
erate amounts of foaming and scale-forming constituents. These 
waters can be Used without much trouble if the boilers are cleaned 
regularly. All the other waters except the most highly mineralized 
(from wells 41, 42, 45, and 83) could probably be successfully used 
after preliminary chemical treatment. 

SOIL IN RELATION TO WATER SUPPLIES. 

Most of the soils of Lower Animas Valley are of alluvial origin, and 
from the viewpoint of the farmer the alluvial soils alone are important. 
They show variations in color, texture, and chemical composition 
from place to place. In general the soils of the stream-built slopes 
along the edges of the valley are gravelly — coarse gravelly along 
their upper portions and finer down the slopes toward the center of 
the valley. The soils of the central plain, derived largely from the 
finer sediments, consist of sand, silt, and clay in various proportions. 

Table2 (pp. 144-149) includes 21 analysesof soils from Lower Animas 
Valley. The content of soluble matter, or alkali, of these soils is 
shown graphically on the map (PL II, in pocket). The greatest 
amount of alkali is contained in the soil of tho barren flats that 
occupy tho center of the valley, but large amounts also occur in 
areas bordering the barren flats. The area in which the samples 

1G939 — 18— war 422 7 



98 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

showed over 0.60 per cent of white alkali or over 0.20 per cent of 
black alkali is outlined on the map (PL II). Numerous investiga- 
tions in the western United States have shown that on soils in which 
the alkali content exceeds these limits ordinary crops are likely to 
suffer. Outside the area outlined, which includes half of T. 22 S., 
R. 20 W., almost aU of T. 23 8., and three-fourths of T. 24 S., the 
soil in general does not contain enough alkali to prevent the successful 
growing of all the ordinary crops. The gravelly and sandy soils of 
the stream-built slopes at the sides of the valley are comparatively 
free from alkali. The soils of the plains at the northern end of the 
valley also contain very little alkali. Sample No. 1 (see Table 2 and 
map, PL II), taken at the northern edge of the sand-dune area, shows 
a little more than 0.04 per cent of total alkali, a negligible amount 
in so far as successful production of crops is concerned. Southward 
from the south line of T. 24 S., Us. 19 and 20 W., the alkali content 
of the soil steadily diminishes. In T. 25 S., Rs. 19 and 20 W., the 
danger from alkali is confined to certain small areas, chiefly along the 
shallow draws where the grade is low and the drainage waters move 
sluggishly. In T. 26 S., R. 20 W., and in the region west of the 
Wamel ranch and south to Animas station soil samples show only a 
negligible amount of alkali. 

The area in which the soil contains injurious amounts of alkali 
includes all that in which the depth to water is less than 15 feet and 
most of that in which the depth to water is from 15 to 25 feet. This 
distribution might lead to the conclusion that a definite relation 
exists between the depth to water and the alkali content of the soil. 
In many shallow-water regions such a relation exists, because the 
water rises to the surface by capillarity and on evaporation deposits 
alkali in the soil. In Lower Animas Valley, however, the alkali 
area includes not only the area of shallow water but also an area 
where the ground water is deep. Beneath the north flat, for instance, 
the depth to water exceeds 100 feet, but the soil contains as much 
or more alkali than that in the region south of the Southern Pacific 
Railroad, where the water is nearest the surface. The position of 
the area of greatest concentration of alkali is determined by the 
topography rather than by the position of the water table. 

PUMPING PLANTS AND IRRIGATION. 

When the region was examined, in 1913, irrigation had not pro- 
gressed beyond the experimental stage, but several pumping plants 
had been installed with a view toward irrigation on a moderately 
large scale. A plant belonging to J. W. Johnson (well 57), on the 
SE. } sec. 1, T. 24 S., R. 20 W., consists of a 20-horsepower Foos 
engine and a two-stage American turbine pump. It is reported that 
this plant furnishes from 400 to 500 gallons of water per minute and 



LOWER ANIMAS VALLEY. 99 

can be run steadily at this rate for 10 to 12 hours without exhausting 
the supply. The well is 57 feet deep and the depth to water is 27 
feet. A plant in the SW. \ sec. 11, T. 24 S., R. 20 W. (well 60), 
belonging to J. A. Leahy, consists of a turbine pump and a 15-horse- 
power Venn Severin oil engine. The depth to water here is only 10 
feet, the shallowest in the valley. The capacity of the plant is not 
known. 

A plant in the NE. \ sec. 14, T. 24 S., R. 20 W. (well 62), belonging 
to D. F. Sellards, consists of a 9-horsepower Stover engine and a 
No. 4 centrifugal pump and delivers 300 gallons per minute according 
to a test by the owner. This test has been maintained for 11 consecu- 
tive hours without appreciable diminution in the supply. The depth 
to water here is 12 feet. 

A 12-horsepower pumping plant in the NE. \ sec. 13, T. 25 S., R. 
20 W. (well 83), belonging to J. P. Kerr, furnished enough water to 
irrigate a small acreage of field crops in 1913. The normal water 
level here is 24 feet below the surface. Several smaller plants, not 
extensively used for irrigation, are scattered throughout the shallow- 
water area. 

In the upper part of the valley, where the water is deeper, there 
are several small pumping plants used principally for watering stock. 
W. J. Wamel has two small plants used for stock watering — one at 
the Holmig place in sec. 14, T. 26 S., R. 20 W. (well 90), and one at 
the Wamel ranch in the NE. \ sec. 36 in the same township (well 96). 
The equipment at the Holmig place consists of a 2|-horsepower 
Fairbanks-Morse gasoline engine, connected to a 5 by 7 inch well 
cylinder. The well is 79 feet deep and the normal water level is 
74 feet below the surface. At the rate of about 30 gallons per 
minute the well can be pumped dry in one and one-half to two hours. 
At the Wamel ranch a 4-horsepower engine is used to pump from a 
well 150 feet deep in which the normal water level is 93 feet below the 
surface. This well may be pumped all day at the rate of 30 to 40 
gallons a minute without a noticeable lowering of the water level. 

One mile east of Animas station, in the NE. \ sec. 19, T. 27 S., R. 
19 W., there is a small pumping plant (well 101), owned by John 
Burns, which is equipped with a 6-horsepower gasoline engine con- 
nected to a plunger pump. The depth of the well is 157 feet, and 
the water normally stands 127 feet below the surface. The owner 
reports an output of 22,000 gallons per day, which is equivalent to 
about 30 gallons per minute. 

Throughout the valley many small orchards and garden patches 
are irrigated by means of windmills in connection with storage 
reservoirs. 

In 1913 the aggregate acreage irrigated by pumped water in Lower 
Animas Valley did not exceed 300 acres, or loss than 2 per coat of 



100 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

the area in which the water table is less than 50 feet below the 
surface. The amount of ground water discharged through evapora- 
tion and transpiration in the shallow-water area is not great, and 
there are indications that there is leakage of ground water out of the 
basin. The supply of ground water annually available, however, is 
without doubt adequate for much more irrigation than has hitherto 
been practiced in the valley, and further developments can safely 
be made. 

SAN LUIS VALLEY. 
LOCATION AND DRAINAGE. 

San Luis Valley lies south of Upper Animas Valley and extends 
into Mexico. It occupies a closed drainage basin that is separated 
from the Animas basin by a low divide 9 miles north of the inter- 
national boundary, and from Yaqui River basin by a low divide 
about 4 miles south of the boundary. It is bordered on the east 
by the San Luis Range and the southern part of the Animas Range, 
and on the west by the Guadalupe Range and the southern part of 
the Peloncillo Range. The watercourses have not in general ex- 
tended their channels much beyond the edges of the mountains and 
they rarely carry water. Cloverdale Creek, however, drains a con- 
siderably larger area than any of the others and maintains a small 
permanent flow during most of the year along its upper course. It 
rises near the Arizona State line and flows southeastward through 
a narrow valley between low, wooded foothills, to Cloverdale post 
office, where it emerges upon the plain and continues in the same 
direction along a definite channel until it is diverted southward into 
Mexico by the old beach ridge in the center of the valley (p. 101). 
It finally discharges through a breach in the ridge into the depression 
occupying the lowest part of the closed drainage basin. 

ANCIENT LAKE CLOVERDALE. 

Near the east side of the plain forming San Luis Valley there is a 
flat-floored depression about 25 or 30 feet below the general level of 
the plain. In form it is a nearly perfect ellipse, 7 miles long and 
5 miles wide, its major axis extending north and south. At the 
south it projects into Mexico about 1 mile. Along two-thirds of 
its circumference, for 16 miles, from the foot of the San Luis Range 
in Mexico along the west and north sides and the east side to the 
San Luis Pass, this depression is inclosed by a remarkable ancient 
shore feature consisting of an embankment 15 to 70 feet high, locally 
known as the "dam" or "levee." From San Luis Pass southward 
and southwestward, along the foot of the San Luis Range to the 
southern extremity of the "dam," the depression is bordered by low 
bluffs consisting of the truncated edges of short, steep stream-built 



SAN LUIS VALLEY. 101 

debris slopes that fringe the range. It is not strange that the strik- 
ing feature known as the "dam" should have attracted more than 
passing notice from travelers in this region and at least three investi- 
gators have mentioned it. Gaillard 1 and Mearns 2 were inclined to the 
theory that it is of human origin, but Huntington, 3 who visited the 
region later, recognized it as an ancient beach ridge and pointed 
out the improbability of its having been constructed by man on 
account of its great size. He says: 

To build such a structure would, by actual computation, require the work of 
1,000 men for 50 to 100 years. The physiographer, however, needs no such compu- 
tation to prove that the "dam" is not of human origin. It presents the characteristic 
features of a lacustrine strand, much exaggerated, however, but still unmistakable. 
At some past time, presumably during the glacial period, a lake must have stood here, 
and must have been swept by winds of unusual severity, forming beaches of excep- 
tional dimensions. 

After carefully examining its structure and comparing it with 
similar features observed elsewhere in the area the writer of this 
paper indorses Huntington's explanation. 

The beach ridge is remarkable for its continuity and regularity of 
outline as well as for its size. From the breach through which 
Cloverdale Creek and the drainage from the south enters the depres- 
sion, one-half mile south of the Mexican boundary, it continues with- 
out a break for 7 miles northward to a narrow gap through which 
a small watercourse from the west passes. The crest of the ridge 
is remarkably level. At the time of the survey of the Mexican 
boundary a stadia survey of part of the ridge was made by Capt. 
Gaillard. At the Mexican line near boundary monument 67 the 
elevation of the crest was determined to be 5,161.10 feet and at a 
point 3i miles north of the boundary 5,161.40 feet, a difference of less 
than one-half foot. Figure 14 shows profiles across the ridge at 
various points. 

Profile A-A' is a profile of the ridge at boundary monument 67. 
The ridge here has a rounded crown with smooth gentle slopes extend- 
ing to the floor of the depression on the east and to the plain on the 
west. The elevation of the crest above the foot of the slope is here 
25 feet on the east side and 15 feet on the west. The width across 
the base is about 500 feet. 

Profile B-B' is a profile across the ridge 3 J miles north of the bound- 
ary. Here the crest is 10 feet above the plain on the west and 30 feet 
above the floor of the depression on the east. On the oast side there 

1 Gaillard, D. D., A gigantic earthwork In New Mexico: Am. Anthropologist, vol. '.), No. (>, pp. 81 1 813, 
Sept., 1896. 

* Mearns, E. A., Mammals of the Mexican boundary of the United States; C7. S. Nat. Mus, Bull. 56, 
pt. 1, p. 94, 1907. 

8 Huntington, Ellsworth, Tho climatic factor as Illustrated in arid America: Carnegie Inst . \\ ashington 
Pub. 192, p. 70, 1914. 



102 GROUND WATER IK SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

is a series of three benches which are probably old shore lines marking 
successive lake levels. 

Profile C-C' is a profile across the ridge near the north end of the old 
lake where the ridge begins to widen toward the east. Here the crest 
of the ridge is 25 feet above the lake floor and 20 feet above the plain 
to the north. A single broad terrace, corresponding probably to the 
upper terrace of profile B-B' is shown on the south side. Eastward 
toward the Animas Range the ridge widens out considerably and 
becomes more irregular in outline. 




200 400 600 

PROFILE A-A' 



5,200- 


SW. 


Terrace^- 


Terrace^rT 


-^L)une sand ^\^__^ 






i 1 


"~~~--„__ 


NE. 


5,150- 








i 


i i 


, 



200 400 



600- 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800 2,000 Feet 

PROFILE D-D' 



200 

5,200- 



400 600 800 

PROFILE C-C 



1,200 1,400 Feet 




0- 200 400 600 800 1,000 Feet 

PROFILE B-B' 

Figure 14.— Profiles of beach ridge of ancient Lake Cloverdale in San Luis Valley. 



Profile D-D' is a northeast-southwest profile across the highest part 
of the ridge near the center of sec. 24 ; T. 33 S., R. 20 W. The crest is 
here about 70 feet above the floor of the depression and 35 feet above 
the surface on the opposite side, and the ridge has a width at the base 
of about 1,200 feet. Sand blown on the ridge by the winds has in- 
creased its height by about 20 feet over its original elevation. Sand 
has also been piled in dunes back of the ridge for some distance. At 
several places gaps have been cut through the ridge by temporary 
streams from the mountains. A number of springs along the foot of 
the debris slope back of the ridge have given rise to grassy meadows 
in the hollows between the sand dunes and have also encouraged the 



BAN LUIS VALLEY, 103 

growth of a small forest of oaks and junipers in an area about 2 miles 
long and half a mile wide back of and parallel to the ridge. 

About half a mile north of the San Luis Pass road the ridge narrows 
and comes to an end. South of the road the old shore line is continued 
parallel to the San Luis Range as a bluff or short, abrupt slope leading 
from the floor of the depression up to the debris slopes that extend 
back to the edge of the mountains. 

The material out of which the beach ridge has been built appears 
from surface indications to be mostly coarse sand with some gravel. 
The top and sides of the ridge are everywhere strewn with pebbles, 
very much waterworn and usually flattened. The following log of a 
well dug near the crest of the ridge on the farm of Louis Carrier 
(No. 184, PI. II, in pocket) throws some light on the character and 
distribution of the materials. The materials have been deposited in 
fairly regular layers. The sands where they occur as a distinct bed 
are very clean and well graded, indicating that they were sorted and 
laid down by the action of water. 

Log of well of Louis Carrier (No. 184), in the NW. 1 sec. 33, T. 33 &., R. 20 W. 




Depth. 



Soil 

Clean coarse pebbly arkose and quartz sand; pebbles and sand grains angular; 

very little waterworn ' 

Material similar to above but containing much yellow clay 

Clean coarse pebbly arkose and quartz sand 

Coarse pebbly sand and yellow clay 



Feet. 



Winds blowing across the surface of bodies of water drive part of 
the water before them toward the shore. If they strike the shore 
obliquely they induce currents which flow parallel to it and perform 
all the functions of a running stream in sorting and distributing the 
shore sediments and building them into beaches, bars, spits, and 
various other features. Waves beating on the shore also do much 
work in rehandling the sediments and eroding the shore line into 
terraces and sea cliffs on the steeper shore slopes. Thus, the bluff 
along the foot of the steep debris slopes of the San Luis Range on the 
eastern and southern sides of the Upper Animas Lake were probably 
formed chiefly by the waves beating back the debris brought down 
by streams. On the north and west sides, where the waters of the 
lake extended out on the plain, the slopes were too flat for the forma- 
tion of cliffs and terraces by the waves, and the currents (lowing paral- 
lel to the shore formed beach ridges. As these ridges could not be 
built up above the level of the water in the lake, it follows that at. the 
time thoy wore formed the edge of the lake was some distance back 
of the ridge which was separated from the out cm- shore by a narrow 
lagoon. All evidences of the outer shore line have, however, long 



104 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

since been obliterated. For a long time while the waters were 
receding the beach ridge actually marked the shore line as shown by 
the beach terraces cut along its inner slope. 

GROUND WATER. 
OCCURRENCE AND QUANTITY. 

As far as present developments show the occurrence of ground water 
in the San Luis Valley is very local. Small supplies have been 
obtained from shallow wells and springs in the valley of Clover dale 
Creek and on the plain west of the beach ridge from Cloverdale south 
to the Mexican border, from shallow wells on the floor of the old lake 
a short distance east of the beach ridge, and from springs along the 
Mexican border near the south end of the lake bed. 

That most of the valley fill consists of material which is essentially 
non-waterbearing seems to be indicated by a deep well drilled by the 
Victoria Land & Cattle Co. (Diamond a A") several years ago near 
the center of the valley, close to the present Fitzpatrick well (No. 
181, PI. II). ' In the Fitzpatrick well all the water occurs in a 
gravel bed about 4 feet below the surface. The deep weU, drilled, it 
is said, to a depth of 500 feet, yielded no appreciable amount of 
water after passing through the shallow gravel bed, and it was finally 
abandoned in favor of the shallow dug pit which now serves as a well. 

Along the channel of Cloverdale Creek and in areas adjacent to the 
more or less indefinite drainage fines farther south on the west side 
and in places on the floor of the old lake a top layer of sand and 
gravel has been deposited. Much of the run-off is absorbed and 
stored in this porous sand and gravel and it is from these materials 
that most of the available water supplies are obtained. In areas 
where this top layer of water-bearing material does not occur wells 
are usually failures. The fact that these beds are irregularly dis- 
tributed and are in many places hidden by a thin layer of soil usually 
makes it impossible to tell in advance whether wells at any particular 
place, even in close proximity to good wells, will yield a sufficient 
supply of water and has been illustrated from time to time at various 
places. On the farm of H. N. Awtrey, less than a mile southeast of a 
spring (No. 193), two holes^ one 16 feet deep and another 80 feet deep 
(No. 192), were dug and no water was obtained. On the Bramlett 
place, less than a mile east of the Garcia spring (No. 195), a hole (No. 
196) 45 feet deep was dug without getting water. The water-bearing 
beds are generally underlain at no great depth by an impervious 
stratum which prevents the water from seeping downward, so that 
the water table is usually very close to the surface. Along Cloverdale 
Creek and the area to the south the water in most of the wells stands 
within 15 feet of the surface. At the Wolf well (No. 185), on the bed 



SAN LUIS VALLEY. 105 

of the old lake, and at the Fitzpatrick well (No. 181), one-half mile 
farther north, the water is still nearer the surface. 

Near the south end of the old lake bed much coarse debris has been 
washed down from the San Luis Range and deposited in large alluvial 
fans that extend out over the old lake floor for a mile or more. At a 
number of places springs emerge at the base of these fans. At the 
Lang ranch there are two large springs (Nos. 189 and 190), and at 
the Gavalando ranch, half a mile west of the Lang ranch, there is 
another spring (No. 197). These springs are probably derived from 
water that seeps through the porous material of the alluvial slope 
and is prevented from sinking by underlying impervious lake beds. 

The Garcia spring (No. 195), situated near boundary monument 
No. 67, at the foot of the east slope of the old beach ridge, is believed 
to be of still more local origin. As has already been pointed out, the 
drainage from Cloverdale Creek and from a number of other water- 
courses from the west follows along the outer side of the beach ridge. 
Some of this water, seeping through the porous materials of the 
ridge, emerges as a spring at the lower level of the foot of the inside 
slope (A-A/, fig. 14). At a number of places in the region south 
of Cloverdale and west of the beach ridge the water table comes 
to the surface and forms springs. In the valley of Cloverdale 
Creek 1 mile northwest of Cloverdale post office a large spring 
emerges on the slope on the north side of the creek. It is not sur- 
prising that wells and springs have been known to go nearly dry in 
years of little rainfall when the shallowness of the water-bearing beds 
and their small storage capacity is considered. As the water supply 
of any particular year is largely dependent on the rainfall for that 
year, a single dry yearns likely to cause an alarming depletion in the 
supply, and a number of dry years in succession are almost certain 
to cause a serious shortage of water. In 1904 nearly all the wells 
and springs in the valley went dry or diminished greatly in yield, and 
thousands of cattle died for lack of sufficient water. The records at 
Lordsburg show that the precipitation in 1904 was 8.70 inches and 
but little below the average of about 10 inches for the northern 
region, but that this year was preceded by a 6-year drought, during 
which the average annual precipitation was only 5.95 inches. 

QUALITY OF WATER. 

Waters were analyzed from the Fitzpatrick well (No. 181) and 
from a spring at Lang's ranch (No. 189). (See map, PL II and 
Table 2.) They are moderately mineralized calcium-carbonate waters 
closely resembling those from the Upper Animas Valley. For 
irrigation, domestic, and boiler use they are entirely satisfactory. 



106 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 
SOIL IN RELATION TO WATER SUPPLIES. 

Several types of soil are represented in San Luis Valley,. Gravelly 
soils occur along the base of the mountains and in parts of the old 
lake bed which occupies the center of the valley, and sandy soils 
derived from the sand hills along the northeastern beach ridge cover a 
small area back of the ridge. Soils consisting largely of silts and 
sands but usually containing some gravel predominate along Clover- 
dale Creek. The region outside of the areas mentioned contains soil 
of all these types and also some soil in which clay is an important 
constituent. 

No surface indications of alkali were noted anywhere in the area. 
Sample 53, taken in a dry-farmed field half a mile west of the old 
beach ridge (see map, PL I, in pocket), showed on analysis only 0.11 
per cent of total alkali and 0.01 per cent of black alkali. In the 
lowest part of the bed of the old lake north of the Lang ranch, where 
flood waters occasionally collect, the soils may possibly contain a 
greater amount of alkali. 

PLAY AS VALLEY. 
LOCATION. 

Playas Valley lies between the central and easternmost mountain 
chains. A low alluvial divide extending from Mount Gillespie, in 
the Animas Range, to Hatchet Gap, separates the valley into two 
parts, commonly known as the upper and lower valleys. 

DRAINAGE OF UPPER PLAYAS VALLEY. 

Upper Playas Valley is a broad plain that -elopes in general north- 
ward and is drained through Hatchet Gap into Hachita Valley. 
From the south end of the valley northward to the Ojo de las Cienegas 
the east and west sides are drained by distinct systems which are sepa- 
rated by a ridge or swell so inconspicuous as hardly to be detected 
without the use of leveling instruments. The ridge can, however, be 
seen extending northeastward from a point on the road 2f miles 
north of the High Lonesome wells. In the vicinity of Ojo de las 
Cienegas the draws from the two sides unite and form a broad, shallow 
draw that leads north-northeastward toward the gap.- 

Deer, Brusby, and Walnut creeks discharge the run-off from most 
of the west side of the Animas Range. In the mountains, where tne 
channels of these creeks are on rock, small flows are maintained 
during the rainy summer months and during the colder months late 
in the fall and in winter, but where they cross the porous sediments of 
the valley their waters rapidly sink and they flow only during times 



PLAYAS VALLEY. 107 

of heavy precipitation. Deer Creek, the largest of these streams, 
rises in the heart of the Animas Range in several branches that lead 
southeasterly to a point within 3 miles of the Mexican border, where 
they unite to form the main channel, which continues eastward for 2 
or 3 miles along the northern end of the Whitewater Hills, makes a 
right-angled bend toward the north upon emerging into the plain, 
continues northward to its confluence with Brusby Creek, and thence 
leads northeastward to its junction with Walnut Creek, 2 \ miles 
south of Walnut wells. From this point the trunk channel carrying 
the combined waters of these three streamways continues northeast- 
ward past Walnut wells for several miles but finally becomes indefi- 
nite and merges into the plain, where the waters spread in broad 
shallow draws. 

The east-side drainage, although distinct from that on the west 
side, is less well denned. Most of the run-off from the west side of 
the Hatchet Range finds "its way northward along a shallow draw 
that extends from a point north of Antelope wells, through the cen- 
tral part of the plain, toward Ojo de las Cienegas. As a rule the storm 
waters after leaving the mountain arroyos spread over the plain and 
do not follow any definite channel. 

DRAINAGE OF LOWER PLAYAS VALLEY. 

Lower Playas Valley lies in a small closed basin whose waters 
drain into an alkali flat known as Playas Lake. It is bounded on the 
east by the Hachita Range and the Coyote and Quartzite hills; on 
the west by the Pyramid and Animas ranges, and by an alluvial 
divide across the gap separating these two ranges. On the north it 
is separated from the Animas drainage basin by a low alluvial divide, 
and on the south it is separated from Upper Playas Valley by another 
low alluvial divide. The total area of the drainage basin is about 
370 square miles. 

PLAYAS LAKE. 

Present "lake." — Playas Lake is a long, narrow alkali flat that 
occupies a depression in the axial portion of Lower Playas Valley 
(PI. 111,-4., p. 26). It extends from a point 1 mile north of Lake 
post office for 14 miles north to a point within 2 J miles of Playas 
station. Its greatest width is about 1J miles near its north end. 
Near the south end it narrows in places to less than a quarter of a 
mile. Its area is about 8 square miles. The surface of the flat 
when dry is smooth and hard, checkered with innumerable small 
sun cracks and mottled with brown and white alkali stains. In the 
rainy season the flat is usually covered with water which is rarely 
over a few inches deep. 



108 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

From the floor of the barren flat rather abrupt slopes lead up to 
the edge of the detrital plains, which extend in more gradual slopes 
to the bases of the mountains that border the valley on either side. 
(See fig. 16, p. 114.) 

Ancient lake. — Certain evidence tends to show that the depression 
now occupied by the barren alkali flat of the dry season and the 
evanescent lake of the rainy season contained at a former time a 
much more permanent and larger body of water. At different points 
around the perimeter of the depression the plain ends in a short, 
abrupt slope or bluff that faces the flat and is strewn with flattened, 
waterworn pebbles which resemble the typical shore shingle of 
modern beaches. On the west side a low bluff, resembling a beach 
terrace, extends from Playas station southward nearly to the Whit- 
mire ranch. At various other points this same feature is seen, but 
at no place is it so distinct and continuous for such a long distance. 

The former existence here of a permanent lake is suggested by sev- 
eral other features, such, for example, as the belt of sand dunes that 
stretches along the eastern edge of the alkali flat for 6 miles near its 
northern end. On the eastern edge, near the southwest corner of the 
NW. i sec. 9, T. 28 S., R. 17 W., near the top of a rather abrupt 
slope up from the flat is a deposit of soft, reddish, stratified sandstone 
that contains many small tubular cavities which are lined with a 
calcareous substance and which may have been produced by organ- 
isms that lived in the shallow water on the shores of the ancient 
lake. 

The old shore line can be traced with reasonable accuracy along 
the east and west sides. At many places the shore features have 
been obliterated by erosion, but by connecting the points where they 
can be identified the course of the ancient strand can be fairly well 
outlined. At the north and south ends of the old lake shore features 
are generally lacking, and the position of the shore line is largely a 
matter of conjecture. From Playas station the depression continues 
northward as a shallow, gradually narrowing draw nearly to the 
divide northwest of the Quartzite Hills. No shore features occur 
here, but judging from the general elevation of the ground the lake 
probably filled this draw. At the south end, in the vicinity of Hatchet 
Gap, the depression broadens out and merges imperceptibly into 
the plain of Upper Playas Valley. As no shore features have been 
preserved the position of the ancient lake shore is here very uncer- 
tain, but it was apparently near the drainage divide that separates 
Upper Playas Valley from Lower Playas Valley. 

From the elevation of the old shore line above the floor of the 
present flat, it appears that the depth of water in the deepest part 
of ancient Lake Playas was 35 to 40 feet. 



PLAY AS VALLEY. 109 

GROUND WATER. 
WATER-BEARING BEDS. 

The occurrence of the ground water in Playas Valley is in many 
respects similar to that in Lower Animas Valley. Sediments which 
consist of unconsolidated clays, sands, and gravels and are saturated 
to the level of the water table fill the intermontane rock trough to 
an unknown depth. There is no record of borings in the valley 
having gone down to bedrock, but from the records of at least one 
well it is known to be very deep in the center of the valley. This 
well (No. 264), drilled on the Winkler place in the SE. \ sec. 7, T. 
30 S., R. 16 W., in search for artesian water, was put down to a depth 
of 836 feet through the valley fill. Another well (No. 301), 13 miles 
south on the old Cheney place, in the SE. \ sec. 18, T. 32 S., R. 16 W., 
is said to have been drilled down 350 feet without striking bedrock. 
Still farther south two wells (No. 312) at High Lonesome are, respec- 
tively, 265 and 250 feet deep. The Antelope wells (No. 313), about 
1 mile north of the Mexican border and less than 2 miles from the 
edge of the hills, are said to be over 200 feet deep. All these wells 
apparently end in valley fill. 

If the rock trough occupied by Playas Valley was excavated by 
erosion the fill may be deepest in the middle. If, on the other hand, 
the trough has resulted from faulting along the west front of the 
Hatchet Range, as is suggested by the structure of the tilted lava 
blocks and by the high limestone cliffs, the lowest part of the trough 
is probably on the east side near the fault line. 

The different classes of material making up the valley fill are as a 
rule sorted and laid down in layers which are locally distinct but not 
continuous. The plotted logs of wells in different sections of the 
valley are shown on Plate VIII. The wells whose logs are given 
are fairly typical of the sections in which they are situated. 

Wells in the Lake and Hatchet Gap regions generally pass through 
three strata of sand or gravel. The first stratum, consisting usually 
of coarse, clean sand, is reached within 10 to 15 feet of the surface; 
the second, consisting usually of gravel and coarse sand, is within 
40 to 50 feet of the surface ; and the third, consisting of gravel, within 
60 to 70 feet of the surface (PI. VIII). The first stratum is, in most 
of the wells, above water level and consequently dry, but the second 
and third strata are generally saturated and yield water freely, the 
third usually yielding the most. That more water-bearing bods 
may be found below the depth to which wells are usually drilled in 
this region is shown by the record of the doop well drilled on the 
Winkler place, in which no less than nino water-bearing beds were 
penetrated between the depths of .'U)0 and 350 feet. Tho following 
log of this well was furnished by Mr. A. S. Lewis from memory: 



110 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

Log of Winkler well (No. 264), in the SE. £ sec. 7, T. 30 S., R. 16 W. 




Depth. 



Clay 

Nine or 10 strata of water-bearing gravel and coarse sand from 2 to 10 feet thick, 

interbedded with impervious clay. 

Mostly coarse cemented "rhyolite" sand or fine gravel 



Feet. 
50 



350 



The material separating the strata of porous sand and gravel is 
impervious clay or a mixture of sand and clay which in many wells 
is firm enough to stand without casing. A calcareous substance 
known as caliche was reported in the upper portions of many of the 
wells. 

In the vicinity of Walnut wells the succession of beds is in general 
similar to that farther north. 

The Britton well (No. 307) in a depth of 74 feet passed through 
four thin strata of fine gravel. The well of K. K. Keith (No. 300) 
penetrates the first gravel stratum at a depth of 25 or 30 feet, and 
from that depth down to the water level at 59 feet passes through 
alternate layers of clean gravel and reddish clay. In the Massey 
well (No. 304) there are two water-bearing beds of coarse gravel 
the first between the depths of 70 and 72 feet and the second between 
110 and 116 feet. (See PL VIII.) 

In the vicinity of Playas none of the wells of which records were 
obtained penetrated below a first horizon of water-bearing beds. 
The character and arrangement of the water-bearing beds varies a 
good deal from place to place. In some wells the water is contained 
in a single thick bed of sand and gravel. In F. S. Cooper's well (No. 
218), at the post office, this bed is reported to be 36 feet thick (see 
PI. VIII), and a similar thick bed of sand and gravel is reported in 
the well of Turnley Walker, half a mile north. In other wells in this 
vicinity the water-bearing beds at the same horizon are thin beds of 
sand between layers of clay or hardpan. Below the hardpan the water 
is in many places under some pressure, so that when a hard layer is 
penetrated the water rises 5 or 6 feet in the well. 

The record of well 228, plotted on Plate VIII, shows conditions 
on the stream-built slope west of Playas. In this well a single thin 
bed of water-bearing sand and gravel was found at the bottom be- 
tween depths of 102 and 104 feet. The overlying material consisted 
largely of "wash," a mixture of poorly assorted gravel in a matrix 
of sandy clay. 

FORM OF THE WATER TABLE. 

The principal additions to the ground-water supply are made near 
the base of the ranges that bound the valleys where the mountain 
streams emerge upon the loose, porous detrital deposits of the plains; 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

PLAYAS REGION 



Stiff yellow clay 
snd caliche ' 



|SK£ 

:"*;".'' 'sack 

' p^ Clay 



Cemented clay 
and gravel ' 
( hardpan ) 



LAKE REGION 



HATCHET GAP REGION 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 422 PLATE VIII 
WALNUT WELLS REGION 



ClayTsoil) 



VT^:}] Coarse sand. 

=£=HJ Clay 

=_-=^ Water level 59-»t 

ffiars Coarse sand with 60'" 

-. tW; UrSp K-MllHerc: 



f Well No.268 
Deptj. 

— A 



Vater level 36-> r^^p 



Sand and gravel, dry 

Water level z 
Clay and sand 

Sand and. gravel, 
water bearing 

Clay 

Sand and gravel, 



Clay and quicksand 



Soil fee 

Clay 

Hard sand, dry 

Sand,water bearing 

Water level — 
Clay 3 

Gravel, water bearing 



Well No- 276 
_9' ! i P! l l__,---.Sur 



Clayey soil 
Clay and sar 



Clay 

Quicksand, water bearin 

Hard,gritty brown clay 




-"=_■ clay 1 ". 



Gravel, water bearing 



' :_:. , 



SECTIONS OF WELLS IN PLAYAS VALLEY. 



PLAYAS VALLEY. Ill 

therefore the water table is highest here and slopes toward the 
lower parts of the valley. A section across the valley would show the 
water table as a concave line, not concentric with but in general 
respects similar to the surface of the land. From the center of the 
valley toward the base of the mountains both the surface of the 
land and the water table rise, but as the ground surface has the 
greater gradient they gradually diverge as they approach the moun- 
tains so that the depth to water increases. 

The rise of the water table in the direction of the mountains is well 
shown by comparing the water levels in two wells near the north end 
of the alkali flat. In well 227, on the west margin of the flat, the depth 
to water is 42 feet ; in well 225, 2 miles to the east, on the slope leading 
up from the opposite side of the flat, the depth to water is 52 feet. 
The ground surface at well 225 is at least 30 feet higher than well 227. 
Therefore the water table rises 20 feet, or 10 feet to the mile. 

As in Animas Valley (pp. 89-91), the water table has a gentle slope 
northward in the direction of its longitudinal axis. In the upper 
valley between Walnut wells and Hatchet Gap the grade is very 
slight, but in the lower valley it is quite decided. 

At Walnut wells the depth to water is 50 feet and at Hatchet Gap 
it is about 35 feet, a difference of 15 feet. The ground surface at 
Walnut wells is estimated to be about 25 feet higher than at Hatchet 
Gap; therefore the water table is 10 feet higher, and a grade of 0.7 
foot per mile in 14 miles is indicated. 

In the lower valley the alkali flat serves as a convenient datum 
plane for calculating the grade of the water table, for when the flat is 
flooded the water is spread over the entire surface to a nearly uniform 
depth, showing that the floor is almost level. At the southern end of 
the flat the water table can be reached Ipy boring to a depth of about 4 
feet. Near the northern margin of the flat the depth to water in well 
227, which is 15 feet above it, is 42 feet. From the floor of the 
alkali flat, therefore, the depth to the water table must be about 
27 feet, or 23 feet more than at the other end of the flat, 14 miles 
south. This relation gives an average grade of 1.6 feet per mile. 

The decline of the water table northward in the lower valley as well 
as in the upper valley is significant. It indicates, first, that the 
ground water of the upper valley moves northward into the lower 
valley and that little if any of the water escapes through Hatchet 
Gap into Hachita Valley, and, second, that the combined ground 
waters of Upper Playas and Lower Playas valleys find an outlet some- 
where north of Playas. 

That little ground water from Upper Playas Valley escapes through 
Hatchet Gap is also indicated by the fact that in the vicinity of the 
gap the water table of Playas Valley is much higher than in Hachita. 
Valley, the water bodies of the two valleys probably being separated 



112 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

by a rock barrier that spans the gap underground. (See p. 122.) 
Along the east and west sides the water body of Lower Playas 
Valley is inclosed by the rock masses of the mountains, so that if the 
combined ground waters of the upper and lower valleys escape from 
the basin it must be northward beneath the open plain into Lords- 
burg Valley, where the water table is lower than in Playas Valley. 
As the water table of Lordsburg and Animas valleys also declines in a 
general northerly direction, it may be that the ground waters of 
Playas Valley eventually reach the Gila basin together with those of 
Lordsburg and Animas valleys. (See pp. 71, 90.) 

PRINCIPAL SHALLOW- WATER AREA. 

Playas Valley comprises approximately 150 square miles in which 
the water-bearing beds are less than 100 feet below the surface, 
including 70 square miles in which depth to water ranges from 50 to 
100 feet, 60 square miles in which it is 25 to 50 feet, and 20 square 
miles m which it is 25 feet or less. (See PI. II, in pocket.) At the 
south end of the alkali flat water was found at a depth of 3J feet. 
The zone in which the depth to water is less than 25 feet extends in a 
narrow strip from the Wliitmire ranch south to the divide between 
the upper and lower valleys and includes the south half of the alkali 
flat. The second zone, in which the depth to water is between 25 
and 50 feet, encircles the first zone, includes the north half of the 
alkali flat, and extends from Playas station south to Walnut wells. 
The third zone, in which the depth to water is between 50 and 100 
feet, extends around the second zone, 4^ miles north of Playas and 
southward to a point 2J miles south of Walnut wells. 

The data represented on the ground-water map (PL II) were 
obtained by measuring the water level in about 100 wells. Most of 
the wells are grouped in three general areas, namely, in the vicinity 
of Playas station, where the average depth to water is between 50 
and 60 feet, the vicinity of Hatchet Gap, where the average depth 
to water is between 25 and 40 feet, and the vicinity of Walnut 
wells, where the average depth to water is between 55 and 70 feet. 

SHALLOW-WATER AREA AT POT HOOK. 

East of Playas the front of the northward-trending Hachita Range 
swings sharply to the northeast and brings the range to a point one- 
half mile south of the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad. The 
Coyote Hills to the north likewise come to a point one-half mile 
north of the railroad by a sudden swing toward the southeast. A 
wedge-shaped sector of Playas Valley extends into the recess thus 
formed to the alluvial divide separating the Playas and Hachita 
drainage basins. Pot Hook, a settlement of five or six families, is 



PLAYAS VALLEY. 113 

near the center of this sector along a shallow draw that drains from 
the Hachita Valley divide westward toward Playas. 

Along this draw, within an area of about 1 square mile, are 8 or 10 
wells, most of them not more than 50 or 60 feet deep. The depth to 
water in the wells that were measured ranges from 17 to 38 feet. 
The elevation of the water table is about 4,510 feet above sea level, 
or 280 feet higher than at Playas. 

The conditions believed to produce the high-water table at Pot 
Hook are represented in figure 15. 

The ground-water body appears to be perched on a rock shelf 
above the main body of ground water of Playas Valley, the water 
being contained in the porous rock waste that covers the shelf and 
being prevented to some extent from seeping away into the deep 
valley fill to the west by some sort of a rock barrier near the outer 
edge of the shelf. Basalt and other fine-grained volcanic rocks 

w. £ 

Rock barrier.. Drainage divide 



Lower Playas Valley 



Saturated 
sediments" 



1 Pot Hook Basin J 



; : •, D ry . s e d i rri e ntsV. -:.}^^-->l '--\ -1\ V£>-£; TvY/^P'T-Ti T "S?7~^', 7\' v ' '-' 7~ ("~ /" '-'' ' 7' 7 \ '" ' < 
^y.\:/.V.vy//;.^ l^yf^^7>^ | gneous~~ rock ';( ^'v^/r^-'^V/^'/i 0~j'i'\ I'/^t^^l '~'C 



Approximate scale 
o I 



Figure 15.— Hypothetical section showing conditions producing shallow water at Pot Hook. 

which may be parts of such a barrier outcrop on the plain at a num- 
ber of places near the western margin of the shallow- water area. 

The wells furnish sufficient water for watering stock and for domes- 
tic uses, but the quantity available for irrigation is probably very 
small, as all the water in this area comes from the rain that falls on 
the surface and the storm waters shed from a small drainage area. 

SPRINGS, 

Springs emerge at intervals along nearly the whole western margin 
of Playas Lake. Some of the inhabitants of the region attribute 
the origin of these springs to a very deep-seated mysterious agency. 
At some of the springs much bluish mud is exuded, which piles up 
around the mouths of the springs and becoming dry forms "mud 
hummocks." During the summer of 1913 some one claimed to have 
discovered that these mud deposits indicated the presence of oil, so 
that considerable local excitement resulted and the whole alkali flat 
and much of the contiguous territory was staked out as oil land. 

All the springs are near the base of tho rather steep slope on the 
west side of tho Playas Lake depression. In one place, ftt least, 
where a well and a spring were found close together, it was definitely 
1G939°— 18— wsi> 422 8 



114 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

determined that the normal water table and the first water-bearing 
stratum in the well were at a considerable elevation above the outlet 
to the spring, as is shown in figure 16. From this it would seem that 
the springs are caused by the Play as Lake depression, which extends 
below the normal ground-water level. 

At one place, near the south end of the alkali flat, the relative 
positions of the well and spring are reversed, well 239, in which the 
depth to water is 10 feet, being below spring 254 This condition 
may, however, be explained by assuming that the spring is the result 
of leakage from the first water stratum, which has been completely 
worn away at the well, and that the water stratum tapped by the 
well is really a second and lower water-bearing bed. 



E. 



Playas Lake 

C alkali flat) 



Horizontal scale Vertical scale 

O 500 FEET 100 O 100 FEET 



Figube 16.— Section showing position of water table and typical conditions causing springs at outcrop 
of water-bearing beds on west side of Playas Lake depression 

ARTESIAN WATER. 

Wells at Ojo de las Cienegas. — The only flowing wells in the valley 
are the two at Ojo de las Cienegas (No. 294) . The first well was bored 
in 1899 and is 4 inches in diameter and- 98 feet deep. The second 
well, bored in 1904, is 6 inches in diameter and 102 feet deep. In 
December, 1913, the first well was discharging 1.6 gallons per minute 
through an outlet 7 feet above the ground and the other was flowing 
at the rate of 4.6 gallons per minute from an outlet 4 feet above the 
ground. The flow is continuous and is collected in a large earth 
reservoir (PL IX, A). The supply is sufficient for several hundred 
head of stock, for domestic use at the ranch, and for a small garden. 

It is reported that in boring the wells layers of cemented calcareous 
material were encountered at several horizons and that one of these 
layers lies immediately above the water-bearing bed of quicksand. 
This condition partly explains the presence of artesian water, for if 
an impervious stratum of this character occurs under the water- 
bearing bed and if these impervious strata with the, interposed 
water-bearing bed continue up the slope to an elevation above the 
mouth of the well the water that seeps into the water-bearing bed 
at this higher level and down between the confining layers would, 
if tapped at a lower level by borings, rise above the surface. A 
spring (No. 292) three-eighths of a mile north of the wells may be 
explained in a similar way, for many springs are essentially natural 
artesian wells and are governed by the same general laws. 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 422 PLATE IX 




A. ARTESIAN WELLS DISCHARGING INTO EARTH STORAGE RESERVOIR; OJO 

DE LAS CIENEGAS. 



f§ ! 


^^^HrSm&m! 


^■♦*** j 







Ji. BLUFFS BORDERING A.NIMAS CREEK TROUGH 



PLAYAS VALLEY. 115 

Prospects. — The conditions upon which artesian flows at Ojo de 
las Cienegas depend are evidently local. In other parts of the valley 
attempts to get artesian water have not been successful. The 
Winkler well, in the valley 6 miles below Ojo de las Cienegas, is 
reported to have been drilled to a depth of 836 feet An earlier 
attempt was made on the old Cheney place, 7 miles above Ojo de las 
Cienegas, where a well (No. 301) was put down to a depth of 350 
feet. In the Winkler well the water is said to have risen at first 
within 15 feet of the surface but now stands at the common water 
level of the region. In this well the last 486 feet of drilling was in 
part consolidated sediments. (See log on p. 110.) If the log of the 
well as reported is reliable it would seem to indicate that the deeper 
valley sediments have become cemented to such an extent as to de- 
stroy their water-bearing qualities. The tests have, however, 
been too few to be regarded as conclusive. 

QUALITY OF WATER. 

Upper Playas Valley. — Waters were analyzed from wells 273, 
294, 297, 303, 306, 312, and 313. (See map, PI. II, in pocket, and 
Table 2.) They include three sodium-carbonate waters (wells 
273/294, and 313), three calcium-carbonate waters (wells 303, 306, 
and 312), and one magnesium-carbonate water (well 297). Calcium- 
carbonate waters predominate south of the vicinity of Ojo de las 
Cienegas and sodium-carbonate waters north of Ojo de las Cienegas. 
In total mineral content the waters range from 144 to 437 parts per 
million. In general the mineralization of the waters increases toward 
the north, the water with the least soluble matter occurring in the 
High Lonesome wells (No. 312) and the most highly mineralized 
water in the South Hatchet wells (No. 273). 

Conditions of soil and ground water are favorable for irrigation 
farming in most of the central valley plain north of Walnut and 
Gilbert wells, the districts most favored by settlers being at the 
north end of this area in the vicinity of Hatchet Gap and at the 
south end near Walnut wells. All the waters from the Walnut 
wells district have been classed as good for irrigation. From the 
Hatchet Gap district the only water that was analyzed is that from 
the South Hatchet wells (No. 273). As an irrigating water it 
compares favorably with those classed as fair in Lower Playas 
Valley. Natural conditions in this part of the valley do not favor 
an excessive accumulation of alkali in the soil and most of the waters 
can probably be used successfully. 

For domestic use all the waters have been classed as good. For 
boiler use the artesian water from Ojo de > las Cienegas (well 294) is 
probably the best and that from well 27:> at (lie South Hatchet wells 
the worst. The others are fair boiler waters. 



116 

Lower Playas Valley. — Waters were analyzed from wells and 
springs Nos. 201, 205, 218, 225, 227, 228, 237, 241, 246, 256, and 
265 in Lower Playas Valley. (See map, PL II, in pocket, and 
Table 2.) They include one sodium-sulphate water containing 
6,913 parts per million of total solids (well 201, 4 miles northeast 
of Playas) and one calcium-sulphate water containing 955 parts per 
million of total solids (well 205, at Pot Hook). The others are 
sodium-carbonate waters whose mineral content ranges from a 
minimum of 253 parts per million of total solids at the south end 
of the valley to a maximum of 501 parts per million in the northern 
part. It has been shown that in Lower Animas Valley the mineral 
content of the waters increases northward in the direction of the 
slopes of the water table (pp. 94-97). In Lower Playas Valley the 
water table also slopes northward and there is a similar increase in 
the mineralization of the waters in that direction. The recent geo- 
logic history of the two valleys is very similar. In both valleys alkali 
flats exist as remnants of former lakes in which the drainage waters 
collected. Upon evaporation of the water some of the salts carried 
in solution were precipitated and became mixed with the fine sedi- 
ments that settled in the still waters of the lakes. It is probable 
that some of the more highly mineralized waters found in the northern 
part of Lower Playas Valley originated at the other end of the 
valley and attained their present concentration in their passage 
northward by coming in contact with buried sediments impregnated 
with alkali. 

The calcium-sulphate water from well 205, at Pot Hook, is the only 
water of this type represented among the waters from southern Grant 
County that were analyzed. The fact that it differs from the other, 
waters of Lower Playas Valley is not surprising when it is remembered 
that the water body of the Pot Hook Basin is distinct from the main 
ground-water body and perched several hundred feet above it (p. 113), 

For irrigation the waters from wells 205 and 225, and springs 237 
and 256 have been classed as good, those from wells 218, 227, 228, 241, 
246, and 265 as fair, and that from well 201 as poor. The best waters 
are from spring 256, near the south end of the alkali flat, and from 
spring 237, at the Whitmire ranch. Both springs are on uneven 
alkali land that is poorly adapted for irrigation. The waters from 
wells 241 and 265, classed as fair, were being used successfully for 
irrigation when the region was visited in 1913. Waters of this kind 
should give equally good results in other parts of this district. 

In the shallow-water area in the vicinity of Playas all the waters 
except that from well 201, and possibly that from well 227, are satis- 
factory irrigating waters. The water from well 227 contains more 
sodium and carbonate than any of the other waters of this class and 



PLAYAS VALLEY. 117 

might cause trouble if used on poorly drained soil. The water at 
Pot Hook is satisfactory for irrigation. 

For domestic use all the waters are good except those from wells 
201 and 205, which have been classed as unfit and bad, respectively. 
The calcium-sulphate water from well 205 is acceptable for drinking 
but is not very satisfactory for cooking or washing on account of its 
hardness. The water from well 201 is unfit for all domestic uses. 
It is not only very hard but is unpleasant to taste and would probably 
prove unhealthful. For boiler use the water from well 205 is classed 
as bad, that from well 201 as very bad, and that from wells 218, 227, 
and 228 as poor. The last three can not well be used in the raw 
state but may be made usable by chemical treatment. The other 
waters from the valley are classed as fair. They may be used in the 
raw state but will be improved by preliminary chemical treatment. 

SOIL IN RELATION TO WATER SUPPLIES. 

Upper Playas Valley. — From the vicinity of the Gilbert wells and 
Walnut Wells northward to the divide between the Upper Playas and 
Lower Playas basins the soils are composed principally of fine sand, 
silt, and clay ; southward from these wells to the Mexican boundary 
the soils are predominantly sandy. The soils on the upper parts of 
the stream-built slopes, close to the mountains, are of the usual 
gravelly .type. 

Soil samples 44, 47, 48, 50, 51, and 52 were collected in Upper 
Playas Valley. The results of analyses are given in the table on pages 
144-149, and the localities at which the samples were taken are shown 
on the map (PI. I, in pocket). The soils represented by these samples 
contain only from 0.11 to 0.28 per cent of total alkali and from 0.02 
to 0.15 per cent of black alkali. None of the samples, show harmful 
amounts of either white or black alkali except No. 47, taken 1J miles 
north of Ojo de las Cienegas, which is near the toleration limit of most 
crops. 

Lower Playas Valley. — In Lower Playas Valley conditions of 
drainage and soil are similar to those in Lower Animas Valley. Clay 
soils occur along the longitudinal axis of the valley in a belt from 
1 to 1$ miles wide and extending from the south margin to a point 
within 4 miles of the north margin of the drainage basin. A part of 
this area is occupied by the barren flat known as Playas Lake, in 
which flood waters charged with mineral matter and fine sediments 
in suspension collect from all parts of the watershed. Upon evapo- 
ration of the water the fine clay of sediments and the dissolved 
mineral matter are left on the ground and form a compact, almost 
impervious clay soil strongly impregnated with alkali. 



118 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

Bordering the narrow central belt of clay soils on both sides and 
forming the surface of the lower portions of the stream-built slopes 
are broader belts of sandy soil that grade into the gravelly soil of the 
intermediate and upper portions of the slopes. 

Soil analyses and study of the surface indications of alkali and the 
vegetation were used in outlining on the map (PL I, in pocket) the 
approximate area in which the soils contain an excessive amount of 
alkali. It is a comparatively small area, including the barren alkali 
flat and a narrow zone surrounding it. Of the soil samples collected 
from this area, No. 32, taken 3 miles north of the Whitmire ranch in 
the barren flat, shows the largest amount of alkali. It contains 1.28 
per cent of total alkali, of which about one-fourth is black alkali. 
Samples 31 and 39, taken on the slopes bordering the barren flat, 
contain, respectively, 0.49 and 0.62 per cent of total alkali and 
0.20 and 0.13 per cent of black alkali. 

The horizontal distribution of alkali in the soil is very uneven — 
that is, the alkali is largely confined to certain spots usually to be 
detected by the familiar surface indications. Thus even in small 
fields the alkali content may vary greatly from place to place. 

This irregularity of distribution is well illustrated by two samples 
(Nos. 37 and 38) taken on the Lane farm, about 1 mile southeast of 
the south end of the barren flat. These two samples, although 
taken within less than one-fourth mile of each other, show wide 
differences in content of alkali. Sample 37, taken in an alkali spot 
in an irrigated orchard, contains 0.50 per cent of total alkali and 
0.23 per cent of black alkali, whereas sample 38, taken in an alfalfa 
field, contains only 0.14 per .cent of total alkali and 0.07 per cent of 
black alkali, a quantity almost negligible as far as the successful 
growing of ordinary crops is concerned. It is probable that the 
area indicated on the map contains small tracts of fairly good soil, 
and that, on the other hand, there are localities outside of the area 
indicated in which the soil contains undesirable amounts of alkali. 

Outside of the area outlined on the map the soils do not, however, 
in general, contain enough alkali to interfere seriously with the suc- 
cessful growing of crops. The clay soils in the vicinity of Playas 
station, represented by samples 25 and 28, are rather high in black 
alkali — 0.14 and 0.13 per cent, respectively — although the amount 
of total soluble salts (0.31 and 0.26 per cent) is relatively low. Sam- 
ple 43, representing a clay soil from the southern part of the valley, 
contained only 0.15 per cent of total alkali and 0.09 per cent of 
black alkali. 

The sandy soils bordering the central clay belt contain only 
relatively small amounts of alkali. In these soils, represented by 
samples 29, 35, 40, and 42, the total alkali ranged from 0.17 to 0.25 
per cent and the black alkali from 0.02 to 0.10 per cent. 



HACHITA VALLEY. 119 

IRRIGATION. 

Out of more than 100 wells in Play as Valley in 1913 only two 
were equipped with pumping machinery adequate for irrigation on 
a considerable scale. Most of the settlers have come into the region 
recently, and have thus far irrigated only small patches by the aid 
of windmills or small, inexpensive gasoline engines attached to 
ordinary plunger pumps. 

The pumping plant of A. F. Lane (well 241), 5 miles northwest of 
Hatchet Gap, in the SW. \ sec. 32, T. 29 S., E. 16 W., consists of a 
small gasoline engine connected to a plunger pump that lifts about 
80 gallons of water per minute. In 1913 there were about 60 acres 
of land under cultivation, mostly in alfalfa and maize. The plant 
is of course inadequate for the irrigation of this amount of land, 
but a fair crop was raised. 

A 4-horsepower pumping plant belonging to A. S. Lewis (well 
265), in the SW. \ sec. 7, T. 30 S., K. 16 W., delivers about 60 gal- 
lons per minute. Mr. Lewis supplements the pumped water by 
making use of flood waters which come down the slopes from the 
west and which are controlled and diverted into the irrigating 
ditches by a series of low embankments and shallow ditches Usually 
made with a plow. 

HACHITA VALLEY. 

PHYSIOGRAPHY AND DRAINAGE. 

Hachita Valley is characterized by a well-marked central draw 
that extends from a point a short distance south of Black Mountain 
southward to the vicinity of Hatchet Gap, and thence southeastward 
to the Mexican border. North of Hatchet Gap the draw would 
hardly be identified as a distinct topographic feature if its conspicu- 
ousness were not greatly magnified by the uniformly thick and luxu- 
riant growth of forage grasses on its clayey bottom in contrast to the 
more scattered and sparse growth on the more gravelly and less 
well-watered slopes of the bordering plain. The position of its 
boundaries as indicated on the map (Pis. I and II, in pocket) is 
based almost entirely on these differences in soil and vegetation. 

South of Hatchet Gap the boundaries of the draw are sharply 
defined by parallel lines of bluffs, which represent the truncated 
edges of the detrital slopes that extend down from the base of the 
ranges bounding the valley. The bluffs are first scon along the 
north side of the draw a mile west of the Hatchet ranch. At the 
Hatchet ranch they appear on both sides of the draw, and they 
continue with few interruptions and gradually increasing height 
along both sides to the Mexican border. The average height oi' the 
top of tho bluffs above the floor of tho draw is about 18 foot, the 
maximum height at several places being 25 or 30 feet. 



120 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

The excavation of the draw in the lower part of Hachita Valley 
below the level of the plain has started a general dissection of the 
alluvial slopes leading down from the Hatchet Mountains and the 
Apache Hills. The lowering of the outlet for the flood waters 
coming down the slopes is causing these waters to cut deeply into the 
slopes which they formerly built up and tending to confine them to 
definite channels which open into the main central draw through 
gashes in the bluffs. Many of the larger gullies have cut back 
considerable distances from the central draw and developed into 
tributary draws similar to the main draw. 

A feature resembling an old shore line exists a quarter of a mile 
west of the Cabin wells, near the Mexican boundary. (See map, 
PI. I.) The presence of this feature and the appearance of the 
broad level plain to the east in Mexico leads to the belief that there 
existed here one of the lakes so common at a certain period in recent 
geologic time throughout this area and in adjoining areas in Arizona. 

The physiographic conditions in the lower part of Hachita Valley 
are exactly parallel to those in Upper Animas Valley. In each the 
draw is a central trough cut into the valley fill and bounded by 
bluffs which are the truncated edges of the alluvial slopes; in each 
the draw presumably opens at the lower end upon an ancient lake 
bed; and in each the stream-built slopes have been extensively dis- 
sected by the lowering of the base-level. 

GROUND WATER. 
OCCURRENCE AND QUANTITY. 

In Hachita Valley the ground water occurs in the main body of 
valley fill. The well data available are too meager to give a very 
definite idea of the character and arrangement of the sediments, but 
as the valley is a typical waste-filled trough the conditions are prob- 
ably similar to those in the other valleys where the bulk of the mate- 
rial is stream laid. A generalized section would probably show a 
succession of thin lenticular beds of clay, sand, and gravel inter- 
bedded with thicker beds of "wash" consisting of an unsorted mix- 
ture of these three classes of material. The sediments underlying 
the central draw near the Mexican boundary are probably better 
sorted and more regularly arranged than those underlying the greater 
part of the valley because here they have probably been laid down 
in the still waters of a former lake. 

The yield of the water-bearing beds has never been thoroughly 
tested. With the exception of the railroad well at Hachita, which 
supplies the railroad and the town, none of the wells in the valley are 
required to furnish water except for watering stock and for domestic 
uses. The only part of the valley where water is reached within 



HACHITA VALLEY. 121 

economical pumping distance for irrigation is the small area near the 
Mexican border. The quantity of water available here is believed 
to be ample for all needs, even if irrigation were extended over the 
whole area. In the rest of the valley, where irrigation is not feasible, 
the quantity of water available is believed to be sufficient for .all 
needs likely to arise in connection with the further extension of the 
ndus tries for which the region is best suited, namely, dry farming 
and stock raising. 

DEPTH TO WATER. 

The -shallowest water is found at the lower end of the axial draw 
near the Mexican boundary, where, in the Cabin wells, the water 
table stood 13 feet below the surface in September, 1913. Up the 
draw the depth to water steadily increases. At Double wells, 2 
miles above the Cabin wells, the depth to water is 47 feet; at the 
Hatchet ranch, 10 miles above, it is 111 feet; at the North Hatchet 
wells, 15 miles above, it is 165 feet; at the Eightmile wells, 18 miles 
above, it is 203 feet, and at Twomile wells, 25 miles above, it is 253 
feet. The average increase for 25 miles is about 10 feet per mile. 
From the axial draw toward the mountains the depth to water 
probably increases more rapidly. 

The area near the Mexican border within which the depth to 
water is less than 100 feet contains about 9 square miles and is in the 
shape of a triangle whose base extends for 5 miles between boundary 
monuments 44 and 45 and whose apex is in the middle of the draw, 
3 miles west of the international boundary. 

The area includes a tract of 2 square miles in which the depth to 
water ranges from 25 to 50 feet and a tract of 1 square mile in which 
the water is less than 25 feet from the surface. (See PL II, in pocket.) 

POSITION OF THE WATER TABLE. 

By comparing the elevation of the surface of the ground and the 
depth to water at the extremities of the valley it is shown that the 
water table slopes southward along the axis of the valley in the same 
direction as the land surface but at a lower rate. At the Twomile 
wells, near the north end of the valley, the elevation of the ground 
is about 4,440 feet above sea level, and the depth to water 253 feet 
(well 316, Table 1), so that the elevation of the water table is about 
4,187 feet. At the Cabin wells, at the south end of the valley, the 
elevation of the ground is about 4,135 feet, the depth to water 13 feet 
(well 315, Table 1), and the elevation of the water table about 4,122 
feet. In a distance of 25 miles, therefore, the land surface descends 
305 feet, or approximately 12 feet per mile, and tho water table 
descends 65 feet, or about 2 J feet per mile. 

The southward slope of the water table indicates that there is a 
general movement of the ground water in that direction to an outlet 
somewhere in Mexico. 



122 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

Figure 17 shows the relation of the water table in Hachita Valley 
to that of Playas Valley in the vicinity of Hatchet Gap. No wells 
were found in the Hachita Valley near the gap, so that the exact 
depth to water could not be determined. Some inhabitants in the 
region state that water can not be obtained here, but whether their 
opinion is founded on fact or merely on conjecture is not known. 
The depth to water in the nearest wells in the central draw of the 
valley gives some clue as to the probable depth to water at the gap. 
For instance, at North Hatchet wells the depth to water is 165 feet 
and at the Hatchet ranch it is 111 feet, a decrease southward of 11 
feet per mile. If the average decrease is the same between North 
Hatchet wells and Hatchet Gap the depth to water there should 
be about 130 feet. 

In Playas Valley the depth to water in the vicinity of the gap is 
about 27 feet, or approximately 100 feet less than in Hachita Valley. 



Approximate 
elevation above 

sea level Pla as Valle 
FEET ' 




C_l§neous"lrftru3ive- 

Metamorphosed limestone- 
- r Buried rock ridge forming dam 



Figuke 17.— Hypothetical section showing subterranean rock barrier across Hatchet Gap separating 
ground-water bodies of Hachita and Playas valleys. 

This difference is probably caused by the rock masses of the Hatchet 
and Hachita ranges being continuous at a short distance below the 
surface and forming an effective barrier against the escape of ground 
water from the Playas Valley into the Hachita Valley but making 
no interference with the free passage of surface drainage through the 
gap. As the principal movement of ground water in the Playas 
Valley is believed to be northward, it is probable that little water 
ordinarily spills over the underground dam (p. 111). If, however, the 
ground water in Playas Valley rises above the top of the barrier, 
some underflow takes place and the subterranean rock dam acts as 
a regulator to limit the height of the water table in Playas Valley. 
If the ground water is at present spilling over, this level may indicate 
the approximate level of the top of the underground dam. 

ARTESIAN CONDITIONS. 

According to local report, there is a flowing well in the valley on 
Mexican territory about 3 miles east of boundary monument 45, 
but none of the wells on United States territory flow. 

In one of the Cabin wells, one-fourth mile west of the Mexican 
line, the water is under some pressure, but not enough to bring it to 



HACHITA VALLEY. 



123 



the surface. This well consists of a dug pit 20 feet deep and a drill 
hole extending about 125 feet below the bottom of the pit. When 
the well was being finished the water is reported to have flowed over 
the top of the casing at the bottom of the pit and to have risen to 
about the present water level in the well, which is 13 feet below the 
ground surface. In the other wells in the valley, except the railroad 
well at Hachita, the water is under little or no head. 

Most of the wells in the valley have been drilled only a short dis- 
tance below the normal water level and are not deep enough to be 
regarded as tests for artesian water. The deepest well is the one 
belonging to the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad at Hachita, 
which is down 685 feet. The following incomplete log of this well 
was taken from the "well profile" sheet, furnished by the railroad 
through Mr. R. S. Trumbull: 



Log of well (No. 315) of El Paso & Southwestern Railroad at Hachita. 




Thickness. 


Depth. 




Feet. 


Feet. 
105 


Coarse gravel 




135 


Conglomerate, no water 




285 


Very coarse gravelly wash i 




305 


Very hard shale 




375 


Red gravel; water rose 100 feet; firm flow 




415 


"Running sand , 




455 


Solid blue flint 


15 


465 


Hard white shale 


505 


Quicksand 


7 


525 


Hard gray shale 


555 


Very hard conglomerate 




565 


Coarse gravel 




585 


Coarse gravel 




635 


Sand; no water 




655 


Solid boulder 


10 


685 







The log is incomplete in that the thicknesses of the different mate- 
rials are not given and the descriptions of the materials are rather 
vague, but it is sufficient to show that conditions in the northern 
part of the valley are probably not favorable for artesian water. 
Although the water was under considerable pressure in a gravel bed, 
encountered at a depth of 415 feet below the surface, it did not rise 
above the normal level of the water table in the region. Further- 
more, the " solid boulder, 10 feet thick," reported in the bottom of 
the well, may be the bedrock, and if so, deeper drilling in search of 
other beds containing water under greater pressure would be futile. 

In the southern part of the valley conditions are believed to be 
more favorable for artesian water. Here the valley is more trough- 
like, the stream-built slopes being largo and inclining steeply from the 
borders of the mountains, and in addition, the central draw is Bunk 
below the general level of the surface. In the area, of shallow water 
near the Mexican border the water is under some pressure even at 
comparatively shallow depths, and if deeper beds were penetrated it 



124 

is possible that water would rise to the surface. Even in this local- 
ity, however, deep drilling for artesian water should not be undertaken 
without due consideration of the expense and uncertainty of the 
venture. 

QUALITY OF WATER. 

Waters analyzed from wells 315, 319, 320, 321, 322, 323, 324, 
and 325 (see map, PI. II, and Table 2) include four sodium-sulphate 
waters, two sodium-carbonate waters, and two calcium-carbonate 
waters. The different kinds of water are irregularly distributed, 
none of the types represented persisting over any considerable 
area. In the region between Hachita and the Badger well the 
amount of dissolved matter in the waters is fairly constant, ranging 
from 509 to 577 parts per million. In the region between the Badger 
well and the Mexican boundary the degree of mineralization of the 
waters varies between wide limits, ranging from 337 to 1,659 parts 
per million of total solids. 

For irrigation all the waters from the region north of the Hatchet 
ranch are classed as good. On account of the depth at which they 
occur, however, it is doubtful whether they could be profitably 
pumped. In the region south of the Hatchet ranch the waters 
are as a rule of poorer quality. That from well 325 (Cabin wells) 
compares favorably with the best of the waters from the northern 
region, but the others are only fairly satisfactory for irrigation. 
Of the two waters analyzed from the shallow-water area adjacent 
to the Mexican boundary, where irrigation by pumping is feasible, 
that from Cabin wells would be a safe water to use on any of the land 
there, but that from Double wells (No. 324) might cause trouble 
if used on some of the heavier soils that already contain considerable 
alkali. 

For domestic use all of the waters are classed as good or fair 
except that from Double wells, which is classed as bad. This water 
from Double wells is objectionable for cooking and washing on 
account of its hardness and also is high in sodium and sulphate, 
which gives it a bad taste. 

None of the waters are entirely acceptable for boiler use in their 
raw state. That from well 322, classed as fair, may be used as it 
comes from the well. Softening with lime is advisable. The other 
waters, classed as poor and bad, demand chemical treatment before 
they can be safely used. 

SOIL IN RELATION TO WATER SUPPLIES. 

The soil of the draw extending along the axis of the valley from 
the region north of Hachita to the Mexican boundary consists prin- 
cipally of silt and clay washed down from the bordering stream-built 
slopes. Sandy soils occur on the plains extending north, east, and 



METHODS OF WATER ANALYSES. 125 

south from Hachita and in narrow belts bordering the axial draw as 
far south as Hatchet Gap, and belts of gravelly soils border the edges 
of the mountains. From Hatchet Gap southward almost to the 
Mexican boundary the gravelly soils of the stream-built slopes on 
both sides of the valley extend to the edge of the draw, and the 
intermediate belts of sandy soil are missing. A narrow belt of 
fine-textured clay and silt soils extends along the international 
boundary from Cabin wells southward to the vicinity of boundary 
monument 46. 

Soil samples 27, 41, 45, and 46, the analyses of which are given 
in the table on pages 146-149, were collected from Hachita Valley. 
(See map, PI. I.) The first three were taken at widely separated 
points along the axial draw. Sample 46 was taken 4 miles south of 
the center of the draw, near boundary monument 46. Sample 45, 
taken in the draw near the Mexican boundary, was the only one 
which showed a harmful amount of alkali. It contained 0.94 per 
cent of total alkali and 0.11 per cent of black alkali, enough to seri- 
ously injure most cultivated crops. Fortunately this sample repre- 
sents only a small area of clay loam in the center of the draw. 

IRRIGATION. 

Irrigation by ground waters is not feasible except in the shallow- 
water area at the lower end of the valley. Parts of the central draw 
outside of the shallow-water area are, however, excellently adapted 
to the utilization of flood waters. At certain seasons large quanti- 
ties of water are shed into the draw from the bordering stream-built 
slopes and by proper manipulation this water can to some extent 
be controlled and applied to the land. On the farm of O. O. Kichen, 
in sec. 23, T. 30 S., R. 14 W., flood water is used very successfully. 
In 1913 this farm produced perhaps better crops than any other 
farm in southern Grant County. Equally good opportunities exist 
at many other places in the draw below Hatchet Gap. Between 
Hatchet Gap and Hachita the same methods of irrigation can be 
applied to a certain degree, although perhaps not so readily, for 
here the draw is too little depressed below the general level of the 
plain and the lateral drainage is not sufficiently localized in definite 
channels to allow the flood waters to be concentrated and collected 
before applying them to the land. 

METHODS OF WATER ANALYSIS. 

By R. F. Hare. 

The analyses of water were made in tho following manner: The 
total solids wore determined by evaporating measured amounts of 
water and drying tho residue for one hour at 100° 0. Tho residue 
was dissolved, calcium precipitated as oxalate, and the precipitate 



126 GROUND WATER IN SOUTHERN GRANT COUNTY, N. MEX. 

dissolved in acid and titrated with a standard solution of potassium 
permanganate. Magnesium was precipitated with sodium phosphate 
in the nitrate from the calcium oxalate, separated by filtration, 
ignited, and weighed as magnesium pyrophosphate. The content 
of sodium and potassium was not determined directly but was com- 
puted from the following formula, which is based on the difference 
between the sum of the reacting values of the acids and the sum of 
the reacting values of the bases. This difference divided by the 
reacting value of sodium gives the calculated value for sodium and 
potassium in parts per million: 

(0.0333 CO 3 +0.0164 H CO 3 +0.0208 SO 4 +0-0282 CI) -(0.0499 Ca+0.0821 Mg) _ TVT „ 

__ 4 _ -JNa+JS. 

The carbonate and bicarbonate radicles were determined by titra- 
tion with N/20 potassium bisulphate. The sulphates were precipi- 
tated with barium chloride and weighed as barium sulphate. Chlo- 
rine was determined volumetrically with N/30 silver nitrate* The 
black alkali, consisting of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate, 
was determined in a separate portion of the water by evaporating a 
measured portion to dryness, igniting gently, dissolving in boiling 
water, and titrating with N/20 acid potassium sulphate, phenol- 
phthalein being used to indicate the carbonate and methyl orange 
to indicate the bicarbonate of sodium. 

In examining the samples of soil 50 grams of the air-dried soil 
was added to 500 cubic centimeters of distilled water, the mixture 
was thoroughly agitated, allowed to stand over night, and filtered. 
Portions of this filtrate were analyzed in the same manner as the 
water samples, except that the method used in determining black 
alkali in most of the samples makes no distinction between sodium 
carbonate and sodium bicarbonate. In this method an excess of 
standard sodium carbonate is evaporated with the soil solution and 
the filtrate from the redissolved residue is titrated with N/50 sul- 
phuric acid, with erythrosine as indicator. In a few of the samples 
(Nos. 40, 44, 47, 48, 50, 51, 52, and 53) the carbonate and bicar- 
bonate of sodium were determined as in the water samples. In 
each entry, however, the result is the sum of the content of sodium 
carbonate determined by analysis and the sodium bicarbonate cal- 
culated to its equivalent of sodium carbonate. 



TABLES. 



127 



RECORDS OF WELLS AND SPRINGS. 



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INDEX. 



Agriculture in the region 17-20 

Alkali, accumulation of 44,64 

accumulation of, how prevented 47-49 

distribution of 45-47, 

69, 72-73, 82-83, 97-98, 106, 1 17-118, 124-125 

kinds and properties of 44-45 

plants resistant to 46 

Alkali coefficient, meaning and use of 64-65 

Alkali flats, description of 26 

formation of. 46-47 

Animas Creek, bluff bordering trough of, plate 

showing 114 

description of 75-76 

erosion by 76-77 

Animas Range, description of 22-23 

rocks of 29 

Animas Valley, location and divisions of.. 12-13, 14 

Animas Valley, Lower, alkali flats in 84 

alkali in soil of 97-98 

beach deposits in, plate showing 27 

beach ridge cut by drainage gap in, plate 

showing 86 

drainage of 83-84 

ground water in, beds containing 91-93 

depth to 89-91 

quality of 94-97 

irrigation from wells in 98-100 

lava beds in 85 

physiography of 83-88 

plate showing 76 

sand dunes in 85 

Animas Valley, Upper, alkali in soil of 82-83 

artesian possibilities in 81 

drainage of 75-76 

erosion of stream-built slopes in, plate 

showing 76 

ground water in, distribution of 78-80 

irrigation with 80-81 

quality of 81-82 

physiography of 75-78 

Apache Hills, description of 24-25 

rocks of 30 

Artesian wells, possibility of 54-55 

Badlands. See Lava. 

Barren zone, alkali in 51-52 

Beach deposits, formation of 103 

nature of 34 

Bicarbonate, distribution of, in ground water. 62 

Big Pyramid Mountain, location of 23 

Boiler use, quality of ground water for 67-69, 

72,82,97,105,115,117,124 

Calcium, distribution of, in ground water 60-61 

Carbonates, distribution of, in ground water. 62 

Carboniferous rocks, occurrence of 28 

Chloride, distribution of, in ground wator 62-63 

Climate of the area 36-42 



Page. 

Cloverdale Peak, location of 21 

Cooke, Lieut. Col. P. St. George, cited 15 

exploration by 14-15 

Corrosion, cause of, in boilers 67 

Coyote Hills, description of . 23, 24 

Creosote bush, habitat of 52 

Cretaceous rocks, possible occurrence of 28 

Deer Creek, course of 106-107 

Dog Mountains, description of 23-24 

Dole, R. B., cited 66 

Domestic use, quality of ground water for.. 66-67, 
72,82,96-97,105,115,117,124 

Dorsey, C. W., cited 46,48,49 

Doyle Hills. See Apache Hills. 

El Paso & Southwestern R. R., log of well of. 123 

Erosion, stream, causes and extent of 27 

Foaming, cause of, in boilers 67 

Forbes, R. H., on agriculture in an arid region 17-20 

Geography of the area examined 11 

Gilbert, G. K., cited 29 

exploration by 15 

Grama grasses, distribution of 53 

value of 9 

Granite Peak, location of 21 

Grant County, maps of southern part of. .In pocket. 

Grasses, growth of 9 

Ground water, classification of 59 

depth to 55-57 

distribution of, according to mineral con- 
tent 59-60 

quality of 58-69, 

71-72, 81-82, 94-97, 105, 115-117, 123 

quantity of 57-58 

source of 53-54 

substances dissolved in 58-59 

Guadalupe Range, description of 20-21 

Gypsum, use of, on alkaline soil 50 

Hachita, precipitation at 37, 39, 41 

Hachita Range, description of 23, 24 

rocks of 30 

Hachita Valley, alkali in soil of 124-125 

artesian conditions in 122-124 

drainage of 119-120 

ground water in, depth to 121-122 

quality of 124 

quantity of 120-121 

irrigation from wells in 125 

location of 13,14 

physiography of 119-120 

Hare, R. F., direction by 11 

methods of water analysis 125-126 

Hatchet Range, description of 23, 24 

rocks of 29 

History of the area 14-15 

Huntington, Ellsworth, cited 101 

151 



152 



INDEX. 



Industries of the region 16-17 

Irrigation, projects for 9-10 

pumping water for 10 

quality of ground water for 64-66, 

72, 82, 96, 105, 115, 116-117, 124 

Kearney, T. H., cited 45 

Lake Animas, ancient, shore features of 86-88 

Lake beds, nature of 34 

Lake Cloverdale, ancient, beach ridge of . . . . 100-104 

Lakes, ancient, remains of 26-27, 

86-88, 100-104, 108, 120 

Land, arable, extent of 57 

Land plaster, use of, on alkaline soil 50 

Lava, Quaternary, masses of, separated from 
main mass by alluvial plain, 

plateshowing 86 

Quaternary, origin and occurrence of 27, 

35-36,85-86 

Little Burro Mountains, description of 25 

rocks of - 30 

Little Pyramid Mountain, location of 23 

Loew, Oscar, exploration by 15 

Lordsburg, precipitation at 37, 38, 39, 40, 41 

temperature at 42 

Lordsburg Valley, alkali in soil of 72, 73 

drainage of 69-70 

ground water in, beds containing 71 

depth to 70-71 

quality of 71-72 

location of 13-14 

wells in - - 73-75 

plate showing sections of 72 

Magnesium, distribution of, in ground water . . 60-61 
Malpais. See Lava. 

Meinzer, O. E., direction by H 

Mesquite, soils chosen by 52 

Mountains of the area H-12, 20-25 

vegetation on 50-51 

New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Sta- 
tion, cooperation by 11 

Ojo de las Cienegas, artesian wells at 54, 114 

artesian wells discharging into reservoir 

at, plate showing 114 

Pague, Ben, log of well of 36 

Parke, Lieut. John G., exploration by 15 

♦Peloncillo Peak, location of - - 21 

Peloncillo Range, description of 20-21 

rocks of 28-29 

Plains, features of 25-27 

vegetation of 51-53 

Playas. See Alkali flats. 

Playas Lake, description of 107-108 

Playas Lake, ancient, shore features of 108 

Playas Valley, alkali in soil of 117-118 

artesian wells in 114-115 

drainage of 106-107 

ground water in, beds containing 109-1 10 

depth to 110-113 

quality of 115-117 

irrigation from wells in 119 

location and divisions of 13, 14 

Lower, plateshowing 26 

sections of wells in, plate showing 110 

shallow-water areas in 112-113 



Playas Valley, springs in 113-114 

Upper, near Ojo de las Cienegas, plate 

showing 27 

Population of the region 16 

Potassium, distribution of, in ground water . . 61 

Pratt, precipitation at 37, 3S 

Pre-Cambrian rocks, occurrence of 2£ 

Precipitation, records of 36-3£ 

regional distribution of 4C 

seasonal distribution of 38-4C 

Pre-Quaternary rocks, nature and distribu- 
tion of 28-3C 

Pyramid Range, description of 22, 22 

rocks of .. 29 

Quartzite Hills, description of 23, 24 

Quaternary deposits, nature and description 

of 30-3€ 

Railroads in the region 15-1C 

Rocks, relation of, to quality of ground water. 63-64 
Rode*o, precipitation at 38, 39, 4] 

Salt grass, habitat of 51 

Saltbushes, cultivation of, in alkaline soils 4( 

San Luis Range, description of 22-22 

rocks of 2£ 

San Luis Valley, alkali in soil of 10( 

drainage of 10( 

ground water in, quality of 10J 

quantity and distribution of 104-10J 

location of 12, U 

Sand dunes in Lower Animas Valley 85-8( 

origin and distribution of 27, 31 

thickness of 3t 

typical vegetation of, plate showing 2( 

Scale, formation of, in kettles and boilers 66, 67 

Shallow- water areas, distribution of 56-57 

Shore features, ancient, occurrence of 26-27 

Sludge, formation of, in boilers 67 

Sodium, distribution cf , in ground water 61 

Soils, alkali in 44-50, 

73, 82-83, 97-98, 106, 117-118, 125 

alkaline, treatment of. 49-50 

analysis of. 144-149 

general characteristics of. 43 

Springs, records of 136-141 

waters of, analyses of 142 

Steins Peak, location of 21 

Stream deposits, character of 31-3S 

correlation of 32-32 

origin of 31 

thickness of 32 

Sulphates, distribution of, in ground water ... 6i 

Temperature, record of 40, 4S 

Tertiary rocks, occurrence of 2i 

Timber of the area 22-23, 50-51 

40 



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U. S. Weather Bureau cited 

Valleys. See Plains. 

Vegetation of the area 9, 17, 22-23, 50-53 

Water. See Ground water. 

Water analysis, methods of 125-126 

Water table, shape of 55-5( 

Wells, records of 129-142 

waters of, analyses of 142-142 

Wind deposits. See Sand dunes. 



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